Police in Northern Ireland are treating a shooting incident, in which a man was seriously injured, as attempted murder.
The attack took place in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast shortly after 9pm last night.
The 25-year-old man was sitting in a car in Brookfield place with two friends when three or four masked men approached the vehicle.
They fired a number of shots though the driver's window, hitting the man in both legs and in the abdomen.
One of the other men in the car was grazed by a bullet, while the third escaped injury.
The man was rushed to the city's Mater Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery last night.
Today, his condition is being described as stable. Police say they have yet to establish a motive for the attack.
Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly - a local MLA - condemned the attack, agreeing with police that those behind it had set out to kill the young man.
Yesterday, the BBC reported that there was a surge in so-called punishment beatings.
However, another local MLA, the SDLP's Alban Maginness, said that the fact that the man was shot in the abdomen indicated that it was more serious.
