THE Ulster Democratic Party leader, Mr Gary McMichael, has said that there is no clear indication that the bomb attack on a leading republican in north Belfast at the weekend means that the loyalist ceasefire is over.
Meanwhile sources close to the INLA have said that the paramilitary group's leadership will meet within the next few days to consider the implications of the loyalist bomb.
The INLA, which has been highly critical of the peace process from the start, has previously stated that its members remain on standby to protect the nationalist community.
Mr McMichael claimed that intense media speculation over the future of the loyalist ceasefire was unhelpful. He said that such a decision would be taken by the Combined Loyalist Military Comm, and, the umbrella group which comprises the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando.
"The CLMC have ownership of the loyalist ceasefire. They have not made any public comment. If the ceasefire was truly over, I would think they would have made a public pronouncement", Mr McMichael said.
He added that he had not been given any private indication that the ceasefire had ended. He hoped it would possible to avoid returning to a "full scale conflict situation". Under those circumstances, multi party talks would have no chance of succeeding, he said.
On Sunday, a bomb exploded under the car of Mr Eddie Copeland (25), a leading republican, in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast. The bomb was believed to have been in retaliation for an IRA gun attack in a Belfast hospital last Friday on two RUC officers guarding the secretary of the DUP, Mr Nigel Dodds.
Mr McMichael refused to condemn the attack on Mr Copeland band denied that he was in breach the Mitchell principles by refusing to do so. He said that the politics of condemnation were "unhelpful". Describing the attack on Mr Copeland as "tragic", he emphasised that his party was opposed to violence "from all sources". He appealed to the IRA and Sinn Fein to pull Northern Ireland "back from the brink".
Mr Billy Hutchinson, of the Progressive Unionist Party, the UVF's political wing, admitted that there would be serious implications for the multi party negotiations if it was confirmed that loyalists were responsible for the Ardoyne bomb attack.
"I would imagine the future of the loyalists at the political talks would be over", he said. "But the PUP will continue to argue that there should be a political process, and we will do that either inside or outside the talks."
Mr Hutchinson would not comment on which paramiltiary group he believed carried out the attack. "At this point in time I wouldn't like to say who is responsible", he said. "Obviously, it looks like the work of loyalists, but we will have to wait and find out."
He added that, ultimately, violence was not the way forward. "Loyalism has only one way to win and the way to win is through the political process and not through the military one.
The PUP spokesman, Mr David Ervine, refused to comment on the attack on Mr Copeland.