Dublin shootings: Two men dead in gun attacks

Two men have been shot dead in separate incidents in County Dublin in less than 24 hours.

On Tuesday night, a man was found dead beside a burning car at Rowans Little in Walshestown, near Balbriggan in north County Dublin.

He has been identified as as 22-year-old Seán Little from Coolock in Dublin.

It is understood he was known to gardaí (Irish police) because of his links with organised crime.

According to Irish broadcaster RTÉ, he was an associate of the leader of a Finglas-based organised crime gang, involved in an ongoing feud with a Blanchardstown drugs gang.

He also had close links to the Kinahan crime gang., RTÉ reports.

Police vehicles and investigators at the scene of the first incident in Walshestown

Gardaí said he was shot a number of times before his body was discovered at about 23:20 local time.

On Wednesday afternoon, a second man was shot dead on the north side of Dublin.

He was killed on Marigold Road in the Darndale area at about 16:00 local time.

The scene of a fatal shooting in the Darndale area of Dublin

Initial reports suggest the victim was known to gardaí and that the shooting could be drugs related.

However, it is not known if the two deaths are connected.

A burnt-out car was removed from the scene of the first incident following a forensic examination

'Gangland feuds'

Shane Harrison, BBC News NI Ireland correspondent

In the first incident, the fact that the body was found beside a burnt-out car may suggest the victim was murdered somewhere else and taken to the scene, off the Belfast-to-Dublin motorway, before being dropped from the vehicle near the exit close to Balbriggan.

Although it is early in the investigation, detectives are keenly aware of three ongoing gangland feuds: one in Drogheda, a few kilometres north, and another in Blanchardstown in west Dublin - both are over the drugs trade.

And then there is the on-going Kinahan-Hutch feud that began in 2015 and is believed to have claimed 17 lives so far.