MURDER IN NORTH BELFAST LINKED TO LOYALIST FEUD

July 11, 2005- (IAIS) Feuding loyalist paramilitaries in Belfast were today blamed for shooting one man dead and critically wounding another.A 19-year-old was killed by three gunmen who burst into a house in the north of the city and opened fire.He was rushed to hospital from the scene of the attack at Dhu Varren Crescent just after 1.30am local time but died later.A light blue Peugeot 405 car suspected of being used by the killers was found on fire soon afterwards at Cupar Way in the loyalist Shankill area.Hours earlier, a man in his 20s was shot several times in the upper body at Crumlin Road, near Glenbank. Police said he was critically wounded and undergoing emergency treatment.A stretch of the Crumlin Road, one of the main routes into the city center, was closed off as detectives hunted for clues.

Although police could not confirm if the attacks were linked, reliable sources claimed escalating tensions between the Ulster Volunteer Force and Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) were to blame.The shootings came just 24 hours after an attack on a home in the nearby Ballysillan district and two men were beaten up by rival paramilitaries.It is understood the LVF carried out at least one of the latest shootings.Several men have been murdered over the last five years, including senior paramilitaries, as the rival loyalist organisations battle for supremacy.Police would not confirm if the latest attacks were linked, but they appealed for calm and urged community representatives to help ease tensions in the area.Chris McGimpsey, an Ulster Unionist Party councillor in Belfast, said: "The last thing we need is another loyalist feud. . . . Both sides need to take a long look at themselves before they plunge our community into a feud."Nigel Dodds, the DUP MP for North Belfast, claimed the public was sickened by the feuding.With the Twelfth of July marches looming, the Democratic Unionist representative said: "The ordinary people of north Belfast do not want this violence. I appeal for calm and restraint at this very difficult time.

As we approach the 11th night bonfires and the Twelfth itself it is vital that everyone with any influence uses it to defuse the situation."Mr Dodds, who has already held talks with police chiefs, urged Security Minister Shaun Woodward to come to their aid. He added: "He must ensure the police have the necessary resources to deal with everything they have to contend with over the next 48 hours and beyond. The lesson of history surely teaches those intent on continuing this violence that it achieves absolutely nothing and that it is the last thing loyalists want."The murder victim was at home with his partner and their baby when the gunmen broke in and opened fire, police revealed.He was shot just two hours after a man in his 20s, who was critically wounded, was targeted as he walked his two dogs past a bonfire site on the Crumlin Road.Police also disclosed the shootings were linked to attacks on Sunday morning on a house in Silverstream Avenue where a mother and child escaped injury.Shots were also fired at a nearby location and police arrested a man on suspicion of being involved.The detective in charge of the murder investigation confirmed officers probing an earlier murder linked to the ongoing loyalist feud had been drafted in to hunt down the killers.Jameson Lockhart was gunned down as he sat on a lorry in east Belfast on July 1.The 25-year-old victim, who was from the north of the city and believed to have LVF connections, had been clearing rubble from the site of a demolished bar on the lower Newtownards Road when the killers struck.Detective Chief Superintendent Bill Wright said: "I believe all these attacks are down to the loyalist feud. They were carried out by personalities from these organisations. We have got detectives and uniformed staff working on this from the Lockhart murder team."He added: "I`m sure the public has seen the high visibility of policing that has taken place. We have put these resources in and I`m confident we are doing everything we possibly can."

From: www.iais.org