Police Fear More Killings After 6 Slain in Ulster Pub

Police in Northern Ireland warned of another round of sectarian killings after six Catholics were slain by gunmen while watching Ireland’s World Cup soccer match on television in a pub late Saturday.

“We are in the middle of a series of tit-for-tat killings,” Deputy Chief Constable Blair Wallace of the Royal Ulster Constabulary said Sunday. “They started on Thursday and Friday, and this was undoubtedly one of that series.”

He said police had been on alert over the weekend but that it was impossible to determine exactly where the killers would strike.

The Ulster Volunteer Force, an outlawed Protestant Unionist paramilitary group, claimed responsibility for the slayings.

“It is quite clear each of the terrorist groups are endeavoring to outdo the other in the enormity of their blood lust,” Wallace said.

Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds, who had celebrated Ireland’s unexpected 1-0 victory over Italy, said Sunday that the pub attack was a “slaughter of the innocents.”

Patrick Mayhew, Britain’s Northern Ireland secretary, denounced the attack as “inhuman savagery.” The shootings occurred at O’Toole’s bar in the isolated village of Loughinisland in County Down south of Belfast.

Witnesses said two men entered the pub and began shooting, hitting 11 of the 24 people in the bar. Six died, and five who were wounded were in the hospital.

Local villagers expressed shock and anger that the paramilitary group would attack the Catholic-owned pub, which was known to have a friendly atmosphere and also attracted Protestant drinkers.

Deputy Chief Constable Wallace warned that more attacks could follow because the World Cup contests are expected to draw large television-viewing crowds, presenting many targets.

“We have specific concerns about a number of events where people are likely to congregate in numbers in specific places,” he said, “including, obviously, pubs during the World Cup matches.”

The pub attack followed another upsurge in violence in the province during which four people were slain in 24 hours.