Murder could spark fresh loyalist blood-letting
The Ulster Volunteer Force was blamed for the murder yesterday morning of 34-year-old Brian Stewart, a prominent member of a rival terror gang which was battling with the UVF for control of the drugs and racketeering business.
Recent intelligence reports indicated that a feud between the UVF and the Loyalist Volunteer Force was about to erupt. Stewart's murder he was shot dead as he arrived at work on an east Belfast industrial estate has confirmed the worst fears.
There have already been a number of feud-related shooting incidents and the leaders of the UVF and a related organisation, the Red Hand Commando, have been warned by police that their lives are in danger from the LVF.
It seems certain that the LVF will strike back after yesterday's murder and the North could be facing another bloody summer of internecine mayhem.
The LVF leadership were said to be meeting late yesterday to consider their response to the shooting.
The two groups were involved in a feud during the summer of 2000 in which at least seven men were shot dead and dozens of families driven from their homes, mainly in the north and west of Belfast.
The UVF was accused in the recent report by the Independent Monitoring Commission of committing one murder last year and of being heavily involved in drug dealing and punishment shootings.
They are also thought to have been involved in at least two killings carried out in recent months.
The group boasted very recently that it had "active service units" in almost every town and city in the North and that it was prepared to resume its terror campaign if the IRA does not disband.
Stewart, who worked as a driver with a plumbing firm, is understood to have been a "military commander" in the LVF.
He was shot dead at close range by gunmen on Montgomery Road in the east of Belfast. The killers escaped in a car which was later abandoned and was found burnt out nearby.
Belfast's Lord Mayor, Martin Morgan of the SDLP, said after the murder: "There is no place in Belfast for murder violence and paramilitary attacks."
North security minister Ian Pearson said the callous act must be condemned by all right-thinking people.
