Man injured in bar shooting

Forensic scientists examine the damaged door

A man is in a stable condition in hospital after a gunman opened fire on a crowded bar in Londonderry.

Three shotgun blasts were fired through a glass panel of a door at the Cosy Inn, in Church Brae in the city, shortly before 2300 BST on Saturday.

The police say up to 30 people were in the bar at the time.

The victim, who is 23, was hit twice - in the left thigh and abdomen - and underwent surgery.

'Indiscriminate attack'

The police do not believe the shooting, which took place in a mainly loyalist part of the city, was sectarian.

A spokesman said one possible motive being examined was a feud of some sort between loyalists.

The police say a dark coloured car, believed to have two people on board, pulled up outside the pub, before a man got out and fired the shots.

He ran back to the car and was driven away from the scene towards Altnagelvin.

A crowd of customers from the bar attempted to chase the car.

A blue car was found burned out a short time later, about a mile from the scene of the shooting, at the Irish Street estate in the city.

Appeal for information

A police spokesperson said it was an "indiscriminate attack which could easily have led to loss of life or serious injury of more than one person".

East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell of the Democratic Unionist Party said there was no excuse for the attack.

"Whatever the reason, whatever the background was, we have to remove this type of incident from society," he said.

Anyone with information about the car or the gunman is urged to contact the police.