Loyalists deny feud

A 'plot' to ignite a new shooting war between Northern Ireland’s two main loyalist paramilitary organisations has been halted, they declared tonight.

As a man shot dead in Derry was buried, Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association commanders denied any feud was brewing in the city.

Instead drug dealers and prostitution racketeers attempting to provoke a fall-out have been driven out of the Waterside district, they said.

A joint statement said: “Individuals who have no connection to either organisation have been instructed to stop their illegal activity.

“Those in the criminal fraternity who have sought to further destabilise loyalism have failed in their attempt to divide us and have been instructed to leave the area.

“Others have been allowed to stay and should recognise that no further criminality will be tolerated by them.”

Fears of a new internecine conflict heightened when Darren Thompson, 22, died in hospital on Friday – two days after he was shot in the head.

He was on his way to work at a construction site near Altnagelvin Hospital when the killer opened fire at point blank range.

Hundreds of mourners at Glendermott Parish Church, including detectives probing the murder and political representatives, heard the Reverend Derek Creighton plead for no retaliation over Mr Thompson’s shooting.

The victim was a soft target for “cruel and callous people”, the clergyman said.

Days before the shooting a man suffered bullet wounds after gunmen sprayed the Cosy Inn pub in the Tullyally area with bullets. A pipe bomb was also left under a nearby house.

With loyalists blamed for the violence, security chiefs have attempted to dampen speculation of a new outbreak of UDA-UVF hostilities.

Personal score-settling by individuals linked to terror groups who have access to weapons were more involved, police said.

In their joint statement, the loyalist organisations warned against trying to split them.

“We seek to reassure the public that there is no loyalist feud between our organisations and that both organisations are fully committed to protecting the community from the criminal fraternity who seek to destabilise loyalism,” they said.

“The tensions that have arisen in the Waterside in recent weeks are the product of criminals being controlled by (police) Special Branch, whose purpose is to cause division and feuding in and between loyalist organisations.

“They have not succeeded and have been forced to retreat from their public relations exercise to defame loyalism.

“In furtherance of this plot to divide us, the Police Service of Northern Ireland in recent days have hyped the situation and informed many in the loyalist community that dissident loyalists were now targeting them. That plot has been stopped in its tracks and those who lay behind it have been routed.”

The statement added: “There will be no third force in Londonderry and no further military action is required to resolve the issue.”