PRISON OFFICERS in the North are increasing their personal security after a death threat from the hardline Loyalist Volunteer Force. The paramilitary group has warned of violence if four loyalist inmates are not transferred to the Maze prison.
The LVF has also said that visitors from the Republic should not presume that they are safe in the North.
In a statement, the LVF said that it would start targeting prison officers from 7 p.m. on Saturday if the men were not moved from Maghaberry jail to the LVF wing in the Maze, which is controlled by Billy Wright, the dissident Portadown loyalist.
A Northern Ireland Office spokesman said: "The situation is that the prisoners have applied for a transfer. The prison service has said that will happen as soon as arrangements can be put in place.
The LVF is made up mainly of dissident UVF members opposed to both the loyalist ceasefire and the peace process.
The chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, Mr Finlay Spratt, said that his members were not responsible for prison policy and he was "sick of them being targeted by various paramilitary groups'. He added: "Prison staff are doing their job and they are caught in the middle again. It's a matter for the authorities, not us."
Meanwhile, the LVF has warned that visitors from the Republic "should not assume that their safety is guaranteed" in Northern Ireland. In a statement to Sunday Life, the group said: "We reserve a first strike option against members and supporters of all constituents of the pan nationalist front whether within Ulster's boundaries or beyond."
The LVF is believed to have murdered Mr Sean Brown, a leading GAA figure, in Bellaghy, Co Derry, last month.