Two killed in Ulster bar shooting

TWO MEN were killed last night in a shooting attack on a Catholic- owned bar in the normally quiet Co Down village of Poyntzpass. They were a Protestant and a Catholic who had been drinking together.

Indications were that the attack was the work of extreme Protestant groups. Loyalists have been responsible for a series of other incidents in recent days.

The victims in the Poyntzpass incident, said to be in their 20s, were named as Damien Traynora, a Catholic, and a Protestant, Philip Allen. They had been lifelong friends. Just after 9pm two men walked into the bar and fired. The victims died in hospital at nearby Newry.

A woman related to the bar owner said: "There were only a few people in the bar at the time. The two men who were shot were very close friends and they were told to lie down. One of the gunman shouted 'Get down, you bastards.' They were then shot as they lay there."

At least two other people were injured. The bar is owned by Desmond Canavan, brother of the nationalist councillor Tom Canavan, a member of John Hume's Social Democratic and Labour party. The SDLP deputy leader, Seamus Mallon MP, said:"This must strengthen our resolve. The most fitting tribute to those who died here tonight would be to have a peace settlement signed very soon."

A Unionist councillor in the small mixed village said: "This village has come through years of violence unscathed. Relations are second to none here. This is the last place anyone would think this could happen."

Earlier in the day a Catholic working in a chip van in the town of Toomebridge escaped when a gun brandished by a loyalist jammed.

Loyalist violence has been prevalent since the INLA killed the loyalist paramilitary leader Billy Wright inside the Maze prison just after Christmas.