The victim of a shooting in west Belfast has called for calm as he revealed he faces a “very lengthy rehabilitation” period.
Taxi driver Sean O’Reilly was shot in the shoulder in Poleglass on Sunday morning.
He was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he is in a stable condition.
Watch: Forensics at the scene of shooting in west Belfast
O’Reilly is a former republican prisoner and an active member of Republican Network for Unity (RNU).
The shooting comes amid an escalating feud between factions of the Óglaigh na hÉireann group, better known as ONH, with the shooting sparking fears of retaliation.
O’Reilly issued a statement via RNU’s social media page, where he made a bizarre and unsubstantiated claim that “state agents” were involved in the attack.
He said he was “facing a very lengthy rehabilitation programme over the next 12 months or more”, and thanked the people who came to his aid on Sunday and the medical teams who have cared for him since.
O’Reilly said there are “well-known difficulties within the republican movement which led to former comrades waging a smear campaign” mainly against a close personal friend.
“I wish to put it on record that I reached out to people to try and find a resolution and when no agreement was possible I was immediately threatened, and then the (aforementioned) smear campaign commenced.”
He said these included “disgusting” WhatsApp messages accusing him and two other republicans of using funds to bankroll a lavish lifestyle.
Specialist search teams sweep the Bell Steel Manor area of west Belfast following the murder bid (Kevin Scott)
Dismissing these allegations as “pure and utter lies”, O’Reilly added: “The accusations against me in these WhatsApp group chats were designed so that they could justify the attack upon me.”
O’Reilly added: “I am facing a very lengthy rehabilitation programme over the next 12 months or more and will undoubtedly lose my means of employment due to this, but still I look forward to returning to my community to live and work.
“I would ask for calm and for cool heads to prevail in this situation.”
A police investigation is ongoing into the gun attack that involved two men, one who fired five shots at the well-known republican and a second who kept lookout throughout the attack.
Detectives have conducted several searches of fields in the city’s Poleglass and Stewartstown Road area on Tuesday.
Earlier this week PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Gina Quinn said “more violence is not the answer”.
She said: “There is no place in our society for this kind of shocking crime, and we are committed to finding those responsible.
“We will go where the evidence takes us and over the coming days myself and my team will be working hard to piece together all the available information — but we need help from the public to do this,” she added.