THERE is no immediate prospect of a return to violence by loyalist paramilitaries, according to senior loyalist sources.
The splinter group which threatened to take unilateral action against the IRA and Sinn Fein has been "brought into line" by the main loyalist paramilitary organisations, the sources said yesterday.
The threat to attack republicans is believed to have been made by a person known as, "King Rat", leader of a dissident loyalist group based in the mid Ulster area. This group threatened in an interview with a Belfast newspaper on March 10th to "execute known members of the IRA and Sinn Fein". A masked member of the group was photographed with guns in front of loyalist flags.
The mid Ulster group was responsible for some of the worst incidences of sectarian violence in the four years prior to the IRA and loyalist paramilitary ceasefires in the autumn of 1994.
However, senior loyalist figures indicated that the mid Ulster group, although well armed, was very small and unlikely to act independently of the main paramilitary organisations, the UVF and the UDA.
The sources said claims that the UVF in mid Ulster and "at least two other brigades" were seeking an immediate return to violence, were not true.
There was confidence that the joint leadership of the UVF and UDA known as the Combined Loyalist Military Command, (CLMC), had sufficient power to keep dissident elements in line. The CLMC issued a statement last week warning the IRA it was prepared and ready to take action if the IRA continued its campaign. The CLMC called on the IRA to call off its campaign.
The loyalist leaders identified the man, known as "King Rat", as the source of threats to re start loyalist violence and had directed him not to embark on any unsanctioned activities. They added that they did not expect any action from the group in mid Ulster.
The "King Rat" figure was at the centre of a spate of sectarian murders in mid Ulster before the ceasefires. His group was responsible for killing two teenage Catholic girls, Eileen Duffy and Katrine Rennie, and Brian Frizzell (29), at a mobile shop in Craigavon, in March 1991; and shooting dead another Catholic youth, Denis Carville (19), as he sat in a car with his girlfriend on the shores of Lough Neagh, in October 1990.
At least three attempts were made on his life by the IRA. At one stage he was also under threat from the UVF but no action was taken against him by the loyalists. He remains a relatively powerful figure in the north Armagh area.
Meanwhile, security on the main roads leading north from Dublin has been increased in response to fear that loyalists might bomb the city if the IRA steps up its attacks. On Wednesday, a checkpoint of soldiers and gardai was stopping cars at the Santry bypass.