Tensions were high at Eleventh Night bonfires and in loyalist areas of Belfast last night after the feud between the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Loyalist Volunteer Force left one man dead and another critically injured.
The UVF was blamed for the murder of a 19-year-old man in north Belfast early yesterday morning while the LVF was believed responsible for seriously wounding a man out walking his dogs in north Belfast less than two hours earlier.
The 19-year-old died after a three-man armed gang burst into his home at Dhu Varren in north Belfast around 1.30 am yesterday, according to police. His partner and young baby were in the house when he was gunned down.
The suspected UVF killers are believed to have escaped in a blue Peugeot car which was later found burnt-out at Cupar Way in the Shankill area.
Police believe that this killing was in retaliation for an attack shortly before midnight which left a man in his 20s fighting for his life in hospital. He was shot a number of times in the upper body on the Crumlin Road at Glenbank while walking his dogs past a loyalist bonfire site.
The LVF was blamed for this shooting, which is viewed as a revenge attack for the murder in east Belfast on July 1st by the UVF of Jameson Lockhart, who was known to be associated with the LVF.
Shortly after the murder of the 19-year-old man, another man escaped a murder bid. He fled from his house at Woodvale Pass after jumping out of a window as a masked gang attempted to smash their way into the house.
A shotgun attack on a home early on Sunday morning is also part of this latest series of incidents in the feud, police believe. In that incident one shot was fired into the house at Silverstream Road in north Belfast.
No one was injured. A few minutes later several shots were fired on Silverstream Road. One man was arrested and a shotgun recovered. The LVF is being blamed for that shooting.
The shootings came as little surprise to police as it was widely known that the LVF was planning retaliation for the murder of Mr Lockhart. Equally the UVF signalled they would viciously respond to any LVF attacks.
The murder victim, who has yet to be named, is not known to be a member of the UVF. If he had any associations with the organisation they were at a very low level, local sources said.
Last night senior UVF and LVF figures were tightening up their security as police feared further attacks in this long-running UVF-LVF feud which sporadically erupts into murderous violence. Det Chief Supt Phil Wright said he believed all these attacks were part of the loyalist feud.
He warned vulnerable people to be very careful in their movements and associations.
The DUP MP for North Belfast, Nigel Dodds, described the attacks as sickening and appalling. "The ordinary people of north Belfast do not want this violence."
