BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, March 25 -- A Roman Catholic councillor who publicly condemned an IRA mortar attack that shot down a British army helicopter was seriously injured in a brutal assault at his home late Thursday, the Royal Ulster constabulary said.
Councillor John Fee, a member of the Social Democratic Labor Party, sustained broken legs, broken ribs and serious head and abdominal injuries when three masked men battered and kicked him in the driveway of his home in Crossmaglen, 40 miles south of Belfast.
Fee had condemned the IRA mortar attack in the staunch nationalist village on March 19 as 'absolute lunacy.' The raid had been launched from the village square over civilian homes, hitting the Lynx helicopter as it hovered 100 feet (30 m) above the heavily fortified security base.
Police said they believe the IRA was responsible for the attack on Fee.
The IRA admitted responsibility for a mortar attack Thursday night against a security base in Newtownbutler, 80 miles west of Belfast. No injuries were reported and the area around the base has been sealed off.
Earlier, the SDLP leader, John Hume, pleaded with IRA to lay down their arms and declare a permanent cessation of violence before Easter.
He said: 'As we approach Easter Sunday, a day that is significant in the history of republicanism, is it too much to ask Sinn Fein and the IRA to follow the advice of Padraig Pearse?'
Pearse was leader of the IRA during the 1916 republican uprising against British troops in Dublin. He was later executed by the British.
Hume said that just before his execution, Pearse sent a final message to his followers: 'Lay down your arms lest you bring too much suffering on your own people.'
