A Belfast loyalist accused of attempted murder has been freed from jail following a prosecution decision to drop the charges against him.

Fears of a new shooting war between rival loyalist gangs on the streets of Belfast at the height of the Protestant marching season intensified tonight after the murder of a man in the east of the city.

The name of the man shot dead in east Belfast this morning recently appeared in loyalist graffiti on the Shankill Road.

A man has been killed in a shooting at the site of a former pub once owned by a loyalist paramilitary leader in east Belfast.