Irish Gypsy beaten to death in Belfast home by machete-wielding gang

A 30-year-old member of Ireland’s home-grown Gypsy community was beaten to death Thursday in his Belfast home by a gang wielding machetes and hatchets, police and politicians said.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said several men fatally bludgeoned the victim in front of his pregnant wife and some of their children shortly after 2am (0200GMT) in his home. His wife suffered unspecified injuries.

Police declined to identify the victim pending notification of the man’s wider family. They said he appeared to have been targeted as part of a feud between families among Gypsies, who are known in Ireland as "travellers" and usually live in mobile homes in roadside camps.

Several travellers have been wounded in Belfast feuding in the past year, including in shotgun attacks and stabbings. More than 1,000 travellers live in Belfast, largely on the Roman Catholic west side of the Northern Ireland capital.

A local politician, Alex Attwood, said it was "a brutal and savage murder which will shock the entire community in West Belfast". He appealed for the tight-knit traveller community to testify against the culprits in court rather than pursue revenge attacks.