Loyalist feud erupts into new violence

A bitter loyalist paramilitary feud tonight erupted into new violence in a gun attack in east Belfast.

Several shots were fired at a man in the Beersbridge Road area but he escaped injury.

Army bomb explosive experts later examined an abandoned car found several streets away which police believe may have been linked to the attack.

With tensions between rival terror organisations at boiling point, one Ulster Defence Association source tonight indicated the shooting incident was the latest instalment in a bloody dispute.

“It was in the right area for it and I don’t see anyone else getting the guns out,” he said.

The UDA and its opponents in the Loyalist Volunteer Force have been embroiled in a festering feud since top LVF man Stephen Warnock was shot dead in Newtownards, Co Down last month.

In a retaliation attack, East Belfast UDA boss Jim Gray escaped death when he was shot in the face days later.

As the internecine war deepened, the UDA then expelled feared terror chief Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair for allegedly siding with the LVF.

Gray was arrested at the weekend following searches in the area but later released without charge.

The police swoop came less than 24 hours after Geoffrey Gray, 41, was shot dead in south-east Belfast.

He is understood to have had links with murdered LVF leader Billy Wright.