Catholic man shot dead in west Belfast

A Catholic man was shot dead in a nationalist district of west Belfast last night in an incident which police said bore the hallmarks of a loyalist killing.

He was shot by two gunmen who burst in to his home at Broadway, an area which lies between the Falls Road and a loyalist area, shortly after 9 o'clock. Local people described the victim as a quiet man who had seven children.

There have been no loyalist killings since July of last year, although the loyalist ceasefire has come under increasing strains in recent months as the IRA has continued its campaign.

A neighbour said: "I went in and he was lying in the working kitchen and my husband started to give him mouth to mouth. I lifted his head and tried telling him, `Come on, wake up,' but we couldn't get anything. He sort of opened his eyes slightly but that was it, there was nothing else we could do." David McKittrick