A Catholic man was shot dead last night as he was getting into his car after finishing his work in a loyalist area of south Belfast.
Mr Benedict Hughes (55) died in a hail of bullets in Sandy Row shortly after 5 p.m., as he was prepared to travel back to his Suffolk Crescent home in west Belfast.
The father of three was shot at least five times in the neck and chest as he tried to get into his car which was parked in Utility Street off the Donegall Road. Mr Hughes was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he later died.
The attack came after the funeral of Mr Fergal McCusker (28), a Catholic shot dead by the Loyalist Volunteer Force at the weekend, and ahead of today's funerals of another Catholic taxi driver, Mr Larry Brennan, and prominent loyalist Mr Jim Guiney, shot dead on Monday.
Last night's murder is the eighth sectarian killing since Christmas.
A Protestant worker said Mr Hughes was "a nice man" who had been working with the company for 30 years. A Protestant woman said: "This has all got to stop. It doesn't matter if you are Catholic or Protestant, these people have no right to go around and shoot someone dead. We want peace."
Last night, an RUC spokeswoman said: "It is understood the man was a Catholic, who had just left his place of work in Utility Street and had got into his car when he was hit by a lone gunman who fired several shots. The gunman then made off on foot in the direction of Felt Street."
When forensic people arrived on the scene a short time later, the area was packed with onlookers who had thought the shot man was a Protestant.
As a recovery truck came to remove Mr Hughes's car last night, small groups of people were still watching the scene. The Rev Richard Darmody, the rector of nearby St Aidan's Church in Sandy Row, who went to the scene thinking the victim was one of his parishioners, condemned the murder. "I'm shocked and horrified that the life of an innocent person has been taken and that another family has been plunged into grief and pain. I feel very concerned about where this is going to lead and the possibility of more lives being taken and more families being bereaved."
There was no immediate admission of responsibility. However, the blame was being placed firmly on loyalists, either the LVF, which has admitted being behind a series of recent killings, or the Ulster Freedom Fighters, which has remained silent but which is suspected by the security forces of having joined the killings.
SDLP councillor Mr Alex Attwood called on mainstream loyalists to "clarify whether they are really on a ceasefire" because it was clear, he said, the LVF had received help from other loyalist groups, the UVF or the UDA.
SDLP councillor Mr Alastair McDonnell said the peace process was not in crisis. Mr Hughes was "an innocent Catholic who was just trying to earn a living, who has no connections with any political or paramilitary grouping. If he had he wouldn't have worked here." He said there was a "small handful of evil people" who did not want to see peace.
Alliance spokesman Dr Philip McGarry said there was "no excuse, no justification for causing pain to yet another family".