Sinn Fein's Mr Martin McGuinness has this evening condemned a weekend gun attack on a bus driver in Derry which police believe was the work of the IRA.
As republicans came under renewed pressure to explain the wounding of Danny McBrearty at the wheel of his bus on Sunday, Mr McGuinness added his voice to criticism of the attack.
The Northern Ireland Education Minister said he was "deeply concerned about the attack in Derry on Sunday night which left Danny McBrearty badly injured and about the trauma caused to passengers travelling on the bus which Mr McBrearty was driving.
"I want to make my position on this attack absolutely clear. It was wrong and should not have happened."
Mr McBrearty was driving pensioners back to Derry on Sunday from a day trip to Co Donegal when his vehicle was stopped in the Creggan area of the city by a masked gang.
When he refused to obey their order for him to leave the bus, Mr McBrearty was hit on the head with a hammer and shot in both legs.
In his hospital bed on Tuesday, the 54-year-old claimed he was targeted by the Provisional IRA because he had helped foil an attack on his nephew Joseph McCloskey.
Mr McCloskey has since fled Derry.
While Sinn Fein have denied IRA involvement, the party came under further pressure today when Tony Blair said on the fringes of the Labour Party conference that the shooting was "unacceptable".
"I understand the police are still looking to come up with a definitive statement on that," he said. "All that I will say at this stage is that any activity of that nature is totally unacceptable." PA