Two shot in Belfast

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33034, 29 September 1972, Page 9

Two shot in Belfast

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

BELFAST, Sept. 28

Two men were shot dead in Belfast during the night—apparently the latest victims in a spate of vicious sectarian assassinations that has claimed at least 60 lives since late June.

A Protestant man was killed and another seriously wounded in the mixed Roman Catholic-Protestant Ligoniel area of the city after police had discovered the body of a 19-year-old Roman Catholic youth shot through the head. The Army said that the incident occurred when a soldier chased and stopped a girl carrying a suspicious package, which turned out to contain medical supplies. A man, thinking the girl was in trouble, began grappling with the soldier, whose rifle went off and wounded a bystander on the other side of the road.

A crowd gathered but there were no reports of any trouble.

Yesterday more than 100 Roman Catholic women held a rally in the Roman Catholic Falls Road area protesting that a local man had been shot dead without provocation by an Army patrol. An Army spokesman denied the charge, saying that troops had only opened fire after they had been shot at by the dead man and another who was wounded.

Late last night the Army claimed to have hit another gunman in the Falls Road area. An ambulance was later seen in the district.

Two more snipers were reported hit in the Andersonstown and Roman Catholic Ballymurphy districts early this morning. The Army was also understood to have arrested another officer in the Provisional wing of the guerrilla Irish Republican Army (1.R.A.). The capture of the unnamed man yesterday brings to five the number of senior I.R.A. members captured by troops during the last two weeks.

A three-day conference on the political future of Northern Ireland ended yesterday with Mr William Whitelaw, the British Minister in charge of the province, saying that it had produced a “valuable and constructive dialogue,” that would help hirp present legislation proposals to Parliament. Only three of Northern Ireland’s seven political parties took part in the talks, held in Darlington, northeast England. Mr Whitelaw, chairman of

jthe meeting, promised that the Government would i shortly issue a document for discussion and consultation. • setting out various proposalsaimed at dealing with theNorthern Ireland crisis. The conference ended on a chilly note over the question of who will control the j British province’s police , force. i The three parties agreed | that social and economic links ■

between the Republic and the i north were desirable. I But earlier in the conference Mr Whitelaw agreed -with all three delegations .that there should be no union with the Republic without the consent of the majority in the north. The main Roman Catholic party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, which boycotted the conference, proposes reunion with the south within the next few years.