Police say murder bid is part of loyalist feud

An attempt to murder a 41-year-old man in Northern Ireland today is believed to be the latest attack in a feud between loyalist paramilitary terror gangs, according to a senior police officer.

The man was shot a number of times in the chest and stomach at 1am after getting out of bed to answer a knock at the door of his home in Church Street, Bangor, County Down.

He was hit by a number of shots fired through the glass panel in the door as he walked along the hall.

Detective Superintendent Alan Mains, who is heading the inquiry, said police were questioning a man in connection with the attack.

The investigation was centred on a link to the feud between the Protestant paramilitary gangs which has so far claimed the lives of two men.

“It bears all the hallmarks of such an attack,” he said.

“I am certainly linking it to that at the moment.”

He added: “There is a lot of tension within the community at present.”

The victim was in a stable condition in hospital, he added.

There have been nine shootings connected to the feud between the Ulster Defence Association and Loyalist Volunteer Force since the beginning of September.

Today’s attack comes after a man was shot in the head in Euston Street, off the Woodstock Road, east Belfast, on Monday night.

Earlier that same night, another man escaped injury in an incident a few streets away when a gunman targeted him.

The festering dispute between UDA members and their rivals in the LVF erupted after top LVF man Stephen Warnock was shot dead in Newtownards, County Down, last month.

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

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

Geoffrey Gray, 41, who is understood to have had links with murdered LVF leader Billy Wright, was shot dead in south-east Belfast last weekend.