POLICE were hunting last night for a man they believe was responsible for a shooting at a west Belfast travellers' caravan site in which one man was seriously wounded.
The shooting relates to a long running "territorial" feud between members of the travelling community, according to police sources.
It happened around 10.30 a.m. yesterday when a group of men arrived at the travellers' caravan site in Colinglen Park, just off the Glen Road in west Belfast.
The group was confronted by one of the travellers from the site who was armed with a shotgun.
He fired at least once, injuring one of the group in the chest. Another man suffered head injuries, although he was not shot, according to police.
The RUC was quickly on the scene but the man allegedly responsible had fled the area. Police were last night searching for him. His weapon was not recovered.
The man who took the force of the shotgun blast was operated on in the Royal Victoria Hospital for chest injuries.
He was described as "seriously ill" by the hospital last night. The other injured man discharged himself from hospital.
Police sources said the shooting was related to a feud which went back at least 18 months between members of the travelling community. It centres on certain families allegedly "trespassing" on other families' territory to "poach" work such as tarmacadaming.
Over that period there were a number of assaults and attacks on caravans.
Eighteen months ago there was a shooting in Newry which led to a car chase in which rival factions fired at each other from their vehicles.
The chase ended after about 30 miles in Lisburn. There were no reported injuries.
A spokesman for the Belfast Travellers' Association said that yesterday's shooting was precipitated by rival families being forced to live together at designated sites.
