UK NORTHERN IRELAND SITUATION UPDATE 1

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(28 Dec 1997) English/Nat • • Prospects for peace in Northern Ireland were unclear on Sunday following the murder of a Protestant militant and an attack in a Catholic neighbourhood that left one dead and three others wounded. • • The attack, suspected of being a revenge killing, came just hours after the murder of Billy Wright, the Protestant leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force, which wants Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. • • Wright was shot to death in the Maze high security prison by members of the republican splinter group the Irish National Liberation Army. • • Gunmen fired on customers leaving a Catholic-owned hotel disco near Belfast on Saturday night. • • A 44-year-old man was killed and three others were injured, including a 14-year-old boy. • • Eyewitnesses said a car pulled up outside the hotel and fired at the victims, including the hotel doorman. • • Party-goers didn't realise they were under attack. • • SOUNDBITE: (English) • Just all of a sudden there was several loud bangs but a lot of people thought is was like firecrackers or bangers left over from the Christmas period. • SUPER CAPTION: Colin Little, eyewitness • • SOUNDBITE: (English) • Well, I think there's a great deal of fear both here and throughout Northern Ireland, fear that the kind of violence that we experienced in the past could be reborn. Hopefully it won't, hopefully this incident is an isolated incident. • SUPER CAPTION: Dennis Haughey, SDLP • • The three survivors were rushed here, to Dungannon's South Tyrone Hospital. • • The 14 year-old boy is said to be in a serious - but stable - condition. • The shooting is threatening to plunge Northern Ireland back into violence. • • The murderous rampage outside the hotel disco is believed to have been in response to Saturday's assassination of Billy Wright, a militant pro-British Protestant leader by pro-Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland's top security Maze prison. • • The Maze houses hundreds of guerrilla inmates from both sides of the Northern Ireland debate. • • The two sides are segregated to prevent any violence, but a serious lapse in security meant Republican gunmen, who want Britain to give up its rule of Northern Ireland, were able to shoot and kill Wright. • • Prison officers said the attackers got onto a roof of the jail and fired on Wright, the leader of the pro-British Loyalist Volunteer Force, while he was being escorted to the visitor's centre. • • The men were thought to be from the Irish National Liberation Army, which wants to see British-controlled Northern Ireland reunited with the Irish Republic. • • A friend of Wright's - who is an L-V-F prisoner currently on leave for Christmas - said the men dropped down into the yard before opening fire. • • SOUNDBITE: (English) • I know our prisoner were in for a visit and this boy jumped down off the roof of A-Wing and pulled the van door open and shot him four times. • SUPER CAPTION: Alec Kerr, L.V.F. prisoner and friend of Billy Wright • • Wright was serving an eight year sentence for threatening to kill witnesses testifying against him in a case unconnected with the conflict. • • He had been the subject of six previous assassination attempts by Republican paramilitary groups and had said he always expected to die a violent death. • • SOUNDBITE: (English) • SUPER CAPTION: Billy Wright, Assassinated LVF Leader • • After Wright's shooting, three men gave themselves up without a struggle and two guns were recovered. • • Police closed roads in religiously divided west Belfast on Saturday and kept watch elsewhere for possible retaliatory strikes against Catholics, while politicians appealed for calm. • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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