Four men were being questioned today about a sectarian beating in Northern Ireland which left a teenager fighting for his life.
Michael McIlveen, 15, was attacked in a car park in Ballymena, County Antrim, as he walked home. He was beaten with baseball bats by a gang of at least a dozen thugs, his family believe.
Detectives who arrested two men following the assault in the town's Garfield Street early yesterday morning confirmed today that another two suspects had been taken for questioning.
Police have also disclosed that a sectarian motive was a definite line of inquiry in the probe into the attack on the young Catholic.
It is believed Michael was walking home with friends between midnight and 1am when they were targeted. The group scattered and while the friends escaped, Michael was cornered. It is understood the full extent of the victim's injuries were only discovered after he managed to get home.
He was taken to the Antrim area hospital where his family have maintained a bedside vigil.
Superintendent Terry Shevlin urged community leaders to help ease tensions between Protestant and Catholic factions caught up in a worsening dispute.
He said: "We're quite clear that the motive for this assault was of a sectarian nature.
"I'm making a clear appeal to civic leaders, community leaders and others with influence in the Ballymena area to not only condemn this, which every right thinking person would do, but to exercise whatever influence they can to prevent any retaliatory attacks that would have another family in the position this family is currently undergoing."
About half-an-hour before Michael was cornered and beaten, it is believed he had been near to the IMC cinema complex, half-a-mile away.
Mr Shevlin urged anyone who had been at the cinema late on Saturday night and saw anything suspicious to contact police.