DETECTIVES are investigating after two men were shot in separate “paramilitary-style” gun attacks with an hour of each other north and west Belfast.

In north Belfast, a 26-year-old man was shot three times in his legs at his home in Upper Meadow Street, New Lodge.

A 41-year-old man was shot five times in his arms and legs when a gang entered his home at Ballymurphy in the west of the city on Sunday evening.

Police said both victims have sustained “potentially life-changing injuries” and were taken to hospital.

The 41-year-old victim was shot at a house in Divismore Park and the attack was reported to police at about 7.35 pm when three masked men entered.

No-one else was in the property at the time of the shooting.

The second shooting was reported at about 8.30 pm.

A PSNI spokesman described both incidents as “terrifying” paramilitary-style attacks in the victims’ own homes.

“It is another example of a criminal group trying to control a community by the use of weapons, fear and violence.”

Sinn Féin north Belfast councillor JJ Magee described the New Lodge shooting as “brutal” and said there had been a number of such attacks in the area.

“These shootings must stop,” he said.

“People want them to stop, they don’t want these kind of shootings in their area and they want these people to go away.”