The RUC is treating a shooting incident in Belfast as attempted murder. A 31-year-old man was shot at least twice in the legs yesterday when two men forced their way into a house in Matilda Avenue off the predominantly loyalist Donegall Road and opened fire.
The victim was visiting the house in the south of the city when the attack occurred. An 18-month-old baby boy, his mother and grandmother were also in the house. The two attackers, who wore sun glasses, bomber jackets and woollen hats, escaped on foot towards Blythe Street.
At 8.45 p.m. on Thursday a 21-year-old man was shot once in a lower leg in an incident on the Shankill Road. The spokesman for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Bureau, Mr Vincent McKenna, has blamed the UVF for the attack. He said the shooting illustrated the need for total decommissioning by the paramilitary organisations.
Meanwhile, an off-duty policewoman was attacked and her head partially shaved while she visited her grandmother in Belfast. She was treated in hospital for concussion and heavy bruising after the attack on Wednesday night, a police spokesman said yesterday.
Two men pushed past the RUC full-time reservist when she answered a knock at the door of her grandmother's house in the Ravenhill area of east Belfast. She was punched in the head and fell unconscious in the kitchen. When she awoke she found part of her head had been shaved.
An RUC spokesman said they were seeking a motive for the attack and had not ruled out that she was targeted because she was in the RUC.
The Belfast Cathedrals Partnership, officially launched five months ago, has raised over £1.5 million for the promotion of reconciliation between the two traditions in Northern Ireland.
The partnership is an undertaking aimed at strengthening the bond between St Anne's Church of Ireland Cathedral, St Patrick's Catholic Cathedral and communities in the city.
Those behind the initiative yesterday thanked the Government, the British government, businesses and individuals for their contributions to the project.