A TEENAGER shot and seriously injured by security forces outside Coalisland RUC station in Tyrone on Wednesday night has been arrested in hospital where detectives wait to question him.
The 19 year old man is believed to have been shot by undercover British soldiers after an explosion at the police base. He underwent emergency surgery in South Tyrone Hospital for gunshot wounds to the stomach and his condition is described as serious but stable.
A cousin of the injured man was shot dead by the SAS in Coagh four years ago in what republicans claimed was a shoot to kill incident. Republicans and local people have again accused the security forces of operating a shoot to kill policy, claiming the teenager could easily have been arrested. Nationalist politicians and clergy want a public inquiry and have called for the withdrawal of undercover soldiers from the North.
The RUC said there had been an explosion at the perimeter wall of the base and a hole in the metal fencing was consistent with damage caused by a bomb containing around a kilogram of explosives.
An officer said another man arrested after the explosion was still being questioned and that a semiautomatic pistol had been found in a follow up operation.
Local people reported hearing ban explosion around 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday. Eyewitnesses said the "teenager was shot moments later as he walked up a nearby road. A car pulled up and the occupants opened fire on him from a back seat window. They jumped out of the vehicle and tied him up with red tape, the sources said.
Mr Oliver Corr, the manager of the local heritage centre, said four unmarked cars arrived at the scene. Plain clothes men, whom he believed were soldiers, got out. They wore baseball caps bearing the word "army".
They manhandled a teenager lying on his stomach bleeding heavily, Mr Corr said. Other eyewitnesses said a soldier stood with his foot on the wounded man's back, holding a gun to his head.
Mr Corr said soldiers refused to allow a local doctor to treat the teenager. Around 200 local people who had gathered grew angry and the soldiers ordered them to stay back before firing randomly over their heads, residents said.
There were bullet holes in the walls of a local solicitor's office yesterday. Bullets also hit the car of Coalisland's parish priest Father Seamus Rice, who said he drove for his life. His back window was smashed and he said he could easily have been killed. He asked the police who the men firing the shots were but they said they didn't know.
An independent councillor, Mr Jim Canning, said the soldiers appeared agitated. Plastic bullets were then fired. Two women suffered minor injuries in the disturbances.
The Dungannon priest, Father Denis Faul, yesterday called for undercover soldiers to be withdrawn from the North. Lawlessness in the security forces could not be tolerated, he said. Coalisland is in the Mid Ulster constituency and observers believe that the incident will strengthen Sinn Fein's chances of winning the seat in the forthcoming British general election.
Sinn Fein's candidate, Mr Martin McGuinness, said the shooting was an unprovoked murderous attack". He accused the security forces of operating a shoot to kill policy. The SDLP's candidate, Mr Denis Haughey, demanded "a full and thorough investigation" into the incident. "This shooting makes a mockery of the police, he said.
Maol Muire Tynan adds:
The Government is awaiting a report from the Anglo Irish Secretariat into the shooting of a young man involving British undercover soldiers in Coalisland. A spokesman said they would examine details of the report before commenting.
Fianna Fail, however, demanded a "complete investigation" and the Sligo Leitrim TD, Mr Mattie Brennan, said the affair raised fears that the British security forces still operated a "shoot to kill" policy in the North.
"Incidents like these hardly inspire confidence among the nationalist community in the security forces. There is a genuine concern among people that we now have a situation whereby the SAS or some other undercover British army force are up to their old tricks in the North," Mr Brennan said. He called for an immediate, complete and independent investigation into the shooting.
Mr Brennan believes the public should know the full details of the shooting and the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, should demand an investigation.