Stab victim to undergo surgery

The mother of a man stabbed in the face in a west Belfast bar said her son has to undergo reconstructive surgery.

Gerard McElkerney, 21, from Balkan Street, was one of three people injured during an attack on O'Connor's bar on the Falls Road on Tuesday.

Shortly before 0045 GMT, two masked men armed with weapons entered the bar and attacked a number of people.

A man in his 30s suffered a wound to his body and a man in his 20s had an injury to his hand.

Gerard's mother Joanna said her son was in the "wrong place at the wrong time".

"All the tendons in his face have been cut," said Mrs McElkerney.

"He was sliced from above the eyebrow right down and through his mouth. It came close to his left eye. Gerard was just in the bar when it happened, he was just one of the unlucky ones."

'Criminal gang'

Sinn Féin councillor Marie Cush said she had been in touch with police regarding the incident.

"The information they are giving us is that this incident started in a city centre bar and that those responsible travelled into west Belfast to commit this attack," she said.

"This is a criminal gang who are not afraid of being able to enter a bar anywhere in the city armed with knives, machetes and hatchets. The sooner they, and their weapons, are removed from the streets of Belfast the better."

Police have said they are following a positive line of inquiry.

They have appealed for anyone with information to contact them.