AN SDLP councillor has blamed the IRA for a so called punishment shooting after which a young Belfast man lost his right leg. Mr Sean McNally (24), who is from the Markets area of Belfast, had his leg amputated after it was shattered by a shotgun blast near Stanfield Street in the Markets on Thursday.
He was abducted by a gang as he was leaving an off licence in Cromac Street and dragged down an alleyway, where he was shot. Mr McNally's leg was amputated above the knee by surgeons at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
Another man, aged 40, was also shot in the leg in a similar shooting in west Belfast at the weekend. The attack happened in the Ardmonagh area of Turf Lodge at 4.30 p.m. on Saturday.
Dr Alasdair McDonnell, an SDLP councillor for south Belfast, challenged Sinn Fein to condemn the attacks.
He said he was in no doubt the IRA was involved in both shootings.
Dr McDonnell said Mr McNally would have bled to death but for a local man who applied a tourniquet to his leg.
"This is brutal Provostyle justice which is in keeping with the harshest Arab regime where hands and legs are chopped off," Dr McDonnell said yesterday.
"I would challenge the Provos, whether they are wearing their political cap or their military cap, to explain what serious crime this young man committed to deserve this savage, primitive and arbitrary punishment.
"And it would be helpful for us to know which Provo ayatollah decided this should be done, and which Provo ayatollah carried it out," he added.
A Sinn Fein spokesman accused Dr McDonnell of "playing politics" with the incidents and said the party was "totally opposed" to "punishment" attacks.
