IRA blamed in fatal Belfast attack

By Anne Cadwallader

BELFAST — Sinn Fein could come under pressure when the new Assembly meets in September after an attack on a man in North Belfast, allegedly carried out by IRA members, ended in him bleeding to death.

Andrew Kearney, aged 33, was dragged from the apartment he shared with his partner and his 2-week old baby girl, chloroformed, beaten unconscious and shot through both legs.

The attackers ripped out the phone and jammed the elevators. Neighbors, hearing the commotion, did not come to his aid. His companion was forced to run from the apartment block, screaming for help, to phone an ambulance.

By the time it arrived, Kearney had lost so much blood from a severed artery, his life could not be saved. He was pronounced dead in hospital.

The Sinn Fein assemblyman for North Belfast, Gerry Kelly, said the attack was “absolutely wrong” and sent his condolences to the family. He said such attacks were unjustifiable, should not take place, and were not condoned by Sinn Fein.

This did not prevent members of the SDLP and Alliance Parties rubbishing Sinn Fein’s claim to distance itself from the attack. Martin Morgan of the SDLP said people who lived in the area knew the IRA had to have been involved.

Glyn Roberts, an Alliance Party member and a Families Against Intimidation and Terror worker, also said he believed the IRA was linked to the shooting and that Sinn Fein should come under pressure politically.

It’s believed the victim was involved in several fights with local republicans in North Belfast and had been threatened several times by them, and by Direction Action Against Drugs, a group linked to the IRA, although his family and the RUC denied he sold drugs.

His mother, Maureen Kearney, said she had been so worried about the threats that she had gone to intercede with republicans about her son’s safety. She believed those responsible were “people who claim to be Provos.”

Also last week, republican sources dismissed newspaper reports that the IRA is on the brink of beginning to decommission. Two London newspapers quoted British government sources indicating that guns were about to be handed over.

It later emerged that a briefing had been given by the Northern Ireland Office, although sources said the newspapers involved had exaggerated what had been said to reporters.

Both RUC and republican sources say they put little stock on the reports, although Sinn Fein sources said they could have been intended to move the focus away from splits within Unionism and the Orange Order.

RUC officers said they were not aware of any moves toward IRA decommissioning and republican sources say nothing has changed since an IRA statement made after the Stormont Agreement.

The IRA Easter message did not mention decommissioning and said it “remained to be seen if this British government was going to rise to the challenge.”