POLICE are investigating a possible paramilitary link to the abduction and assault of a 22-year-old man in Strabane.
The man was thrown into a van and had a hood placed over his head before being driven outside the town where he was viciously beaten by a number of men on Thursday night.
He suffered serious, although non-life-threatening injuries, including a large gash to his head, a broken arm and bruising.
In the third serious attack in four days in Strabane.
Detective Sergeant Brian Reid who is leading the investigation into the abduction said the victim was walking in the Carlton Drive area at around 11pm when a grey van pulled up alongside him.
"He was pulled inside the vehicle, had a hood placed over his head, and had his hands and feet bound.
"The van was then driven some distance out of the town before stopping and a vicious assault being carried out on the male by a number of men," said Mr Reid.
The man was then driven back into the town and dumped in Bradley Way before midnight.
"While the injuries are not life threatening, this was a horrifying attack that will have had a major impact on the victim and his loved ones," said Mr Reid.
He added: "I am appealing for community help in identifying the perpetrators of this crime.
"There can be no justification for criminal groups carrying out such brutal attacks, attempting to control communities through fear and violence."
Thursday night's incident followed the shooting of a 33-year-old man in Derry on Tuesday night. The man was shot in the legs and stomach in the city’s Bogside.
In a separate incident on Sunday night, a pipe-bomb was thrown into the home of a 65 year-old Strabane pensioner, Mary Peoples.
Her son Ryan, who carried the device out of the property, said he believed his mother’s home was targeted because he had been involved in a row outside a Strabane bar with a man with links to dissident republicans.
PSNI chief inspector, Paul McCracken said it was too early yet to say if the three attacks were in any way linked.
But he said: “It’s criminal groups carrying out these brutal attacks. There appears to be an attempt to control communities through fear and violence; it’s not acceptable.”
SDLP West Tyrone assembly member, Daniel McCrossan such attacks were "completely unacceptable".
Derry DUP councillor, Drew Thompson, who chairs the Derry and Strabane policing partnership, said: “The criminal gang that carried out the assault have no concern for people living in the area.”
