UDA blamed for Belfast shootings

The Ulster Defence Association has been blamed for burning out a barber shop in north Belfast this morning and then firing shots at a nearby house believed to belong to the shop's owner.

Gunmen fired several shots at the house in Braehill after earlier setting fire to the hair salon in Upper Crumlin Road.

The attack is understood to be the latest salvo in an ongoing and increasingly bitter feud between the UDA leadership and the its former west Belfast commander, Johnny Adair, who was expelled from the organisation two months ago.

Last night, the windows of two houses in the Westland Road area of north Belfast were smashed by two carloads of masked men armed with iron bars and baseball bats.

This morning's incidents are believed to be retaliation for that attack, which was blamed on UDA men still loyal to Adair.