A man who escaped injury in a gun attack in County Antrim had previously been warned he could be targeted by loyalists according to a local councillor.

The man, a fomer republican prisioner, believed to be in his 40s, was driving home from work on Tuesday November 13 when he was shot at from a passing car near Ballycastle.

Police have said at this stage the shooting was the work of loyalist paramilitaries.

Sinn Féin Ballymoney Borough Council member Philip Maguire said the latest attack is a “worrying development for the area”. Speaking on Wednesday he said: “The UDA has been increasingly active in the Ballycastle area. Attacks like these involving pipe bombs, car bombs and gun attacks have been increasing over the last 6-8 months. The man in question had been warned three times he is on a loyalist death list and today he has said he leaving his place of work as a result of the attack. The elected representatives of the area need to do something to address this cycle of violence.”

Meanwhile, SDLP assembly member for North Antrim Sean Farren said: “Attacks such as Tuesday’s offer no way forward, and will not dissuade those of us who have our sights on the bigger picture.”

SDLP Moyle Councillor Madeline Black said: “This kind of cowardly, sickening violence has no place in Ballycastle, no place in Northern Ireland, no place in our society. Throughout the north, people who have no interest in peace, in partnership, in progress are continually trying to turn back the clock. We won’t let them.” (AMcE)