The UVF is being blamed in loyalist circles for a gun attack at a Glasgow Rangers Supporters Club in south Belfast. Two men were standing outside the premises in Sandy Row when gunmen opened fire from a passing car on Monday night.
No-one was injured in the attack. Loyalist sources said the shooting was linked to tensions between the UVF and the UDA in Belfast. Mr Davy Adams of the Ulster Democratic Party, the UDA's political wing said: "It was a miracle nobody was killed. It was an indiscriminate attack. Nobody should jump to conclusions about who carried out this shooting but republicans were not involved."
The club was packed at the time. The gunman actually got out of the car and unsuccessfully chased one of his victims. He then returned to the car which sped off. An RUC spokesman said one of the shots hit a vehicle waiting at traffic lights on the Donegall Road. The occupants were not injured.
"There were children and their parents in the car behind and they also had a narrow escape," said the RUC spokesman. The car used in the attack was later found abandoned in the loyalist Village area.
There has been a series of clashes between rival loyalists, but last night's shooting marked an escalation in the feuding. Condemning the attack, SDLP Assembly member, Ms Carmel Hanna, said: "The people of south Belfast have the right to live in peace and harmony and not have their lives disrupted by wanton acts of this kind."