Teenage girl (17) hurt in Portadown attack

A prison officer's daughter was being treated in hospital in Northern Ireland today after a gang attacked her family home and…

A prison officer's daughter was being treated in hospital in Northern Ireland today after a gang attacked her family home and set it on fire.

The 17-year-old was alone in the house at Portadown, Co Armagh, when a gang of men forced their way in and set it on fire late last night.

The girl suffered shock and the effects of smoke inhalation.

The Prison Officers' Association condemned the attack and said it believed it was carried out because the householder was a prison officer.

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The chairman of the association said he had no doubt that paramilitaries were responsible for the attack.

Mr Finlay Spratt said: "We are supposed to have a peace process here but the reality is that prison officers and their families are not getting the benefit of the peace process.

"People in Northern Ireland, particularly prison officers and their families, are still being terrorised by what I can only call thugs."

A gun attack on a popular Belfast city-centre bar was also being investigated by the RUC.

Lavery's Bar in Bradbury Place was targeted last night in a drive-by shooting.

A gunman fired with what was believed to be a shotgun at the bar from a passing car. Neither customers nor staff were injured, said a spokesman.

PA