Red Hand Defenders admit to teen murder

The Red Hand Defenders have claimed responsibility for the murder of a Protestant teenager in Glengormley, Co Antrim last night.

18-year-old Gavin Brett died and Catholic friend Michael Farrell was injured when a gunman opened fire on them from a car outside St Enda's GAA club on Hightown Road.

The Ulster Defence Association, which is supposed to be on ceasefire, has used the Red Hand Defenders as a cover name in several sectarian murders in the past year.

In a statement to a Belfast newsroom today, the loyalist group said: "Our campaign will increase. God Save Ulster."

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has offered to meet the UDA, which he has blamed for an orchestrated campaign of violence against Catholics in recent months.

Mr Adams also urged unionist leaders to seek dialogue with the loyalist paramilitary group, which he believes is trying to destroy the Good Friday Agreement.

The Sinn Fein leader committed himself to meeting with anyone who wants to work on an initiative to stabilise the situation.

He revealed that Sinn Fein has instructed its members in Belfast to immediately liaise with all of the political parties and Belfast City Council to initiate a process of dialogue aimed at calming tensions between nationalists and republicans.

Mr Adams said Sinn Fein is totally opposed to any type of sectarian attacks, whether they are against Catholics or Protestants.

He conceded that some republican elements have attacked Protestant homes recently, but he denied that the IRA played a role in orchestrating the attacks.

Unionists have accused the republican movement of stoking violence as an argument against the decommissioning of its arms.

Mr Adams called on the RUC and the British Government to "face up to the fact that the UDA's ceasefire is not intact. The organisation has been responsible for murdering Catholics and over 140 pipe-bomb attacks in recent weeks."