Bangor bomb victim had taken a stand against drugs dealers

Drug dealers linked to loyalist paramilatries were responsible for badly injuring a man today in a bomb attack on his van in a seaside town in Northern Ireland, it has been claimed.

Drug dealers linked to loyalist paramilatries were responsible for badly injuring a man today in a bomb attack on his van in a seaside town in Northern Ireland, it has been claimed.

The man, said to be head of security at a nightclub in Bangor, was found bleeding badly and shouting for help in the County Down town's High Street.

Two other men who were with him escaped without serious injury and it is believed the device may have only partially exploded.

The attack happened just hours after a bomb wrecked Shankill Road offices shared by the Ulster Democratic Party, which is the political wing of the Ulster Defence Association.

But the Bangor blast is not being linked to the escalating feud between the UDA and the Ulster Volunteer Force.

David Ervine, a Progressive Unionist Party member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and friend of the victim, said he was head of security at a nightclub in Bangor and had been threatened by drugs dealers linked to the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

He said: "This man was under serious threat of losing his life because of his stand against the drugs dealers. He has evicted these people and this is the price paid. It has nothing to do with the Shankill."

The men had been working in a cafe, close to the rear of a seafront hotel where the blue Transit van had been parked. They had just turned a corner into High Street when the blast happened.