By Conor Sharkey

THE Strabane family targeted in a shooting incident in the early hours of Friday morning this week appealed to their attackers to leave them in peace.

The Carlton Drive home of mother-of-five Margaret Wilders was hit by a single blast from a shotgun shortly after 12am on Friday.

Extensive damage was caused to the front door of the Wilders home, however no-one was injured in the attack.

The group behind the attack is since understood to have been stood down and disarmed, following intervention by the INLA.

Mrs Wilders son Graham explained: "Me and my brother Grant were in the living room at about 12.20am on Thursday, when we heard a massive crash.

"We ran out, thinking someone had fired a stone at the door, but we could see no-one about.

"It wasn't until the next morning that we realised the house had been shot at," he said.

Mrs Wilders added, "We have done absolutely nothing wrong and we definitely didn't deserve this.

"As far as we are concerned this was people taking the law into their hands. They are just scumbags," she said.

Her 22 year old daughter was also asleep at home when the attack happened. She has been left very traumatised.

"I got a phone call from my daughter at about half twelve, she was panicking and told me to come home because she had heard a loud bang and thought somebody had thrown a brick at the door.

"We only realised the next morning when my brother came up to look at the door that it was bullet marks," she said.

"Kylie is still very frightened and has hardly left the house since this happened. She has changed her room around to move the bed away from the window and hasn't been sleeping much at all. I would say it will take her a long time to get over it."

"All I would ask is to be left in peace. This was an unnecessary attack and someone could have been seriously injured over nothing."

"We don't want any more hassle and just want to be left alone," she said.