Man questioned in loyalist feud

A man was being questioned today about the murder of a paramilitary boss that has ignited a new feud among rival loyalists in Northern Ireland.

Hours after two men were injured, one critically, during clashes between rival factions in which shots were fired, detectives investigating the killing of Jim Johnston arrested the man.

Johnston, 45, a builder who had links with the Red Hand Commando terror grouping, was gunned down outside his home in the Co Down village of Crawfordsburn on Thursday.

Police believe he may have been killed in a fallout over drugs and the murder of Loyalist Volunteer Force member Stephen Warnock in Newtownards last September.

As tensions heightened in Belfast, fighting broke out overnight between the two sides believed to be involved in a festering dispute.

At least 100 people were involved in the disturbances outside the Bunch of Grapes pub on the Castlereagh Road in the east of the city.

One man was taken to hospital with serious head injuries and was today still in a critical condition.

Another man was shot during the fighting but his condition was said to be stable, police said.