BELFAST - Troops were rushed on to the streets of Belfast yesterday after a close associate of Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair was shot dead in a dangerously escalating loyalist paramilitary feud.
He was one of two men killed by the Ulster Volunteer Force, which is now locked in backstreet battle with Adair's Ulster Freedom Fighters. The UFF had earlier attacked and ransacked the homes of 20 or more UVF members and supporters.
Numerous other acts of violence took place in Belfast's loyalist heartland, the Shankill Rd district, as it became clear that differences between the UVF and UFF had broken out into open warfare.
There were appeals for calm amid fears that the dispute could undermine and destabilise the wider peace process, which has led to a radical reduction in the death rate in recent years.
The deployment of troops in the Shankill district for the first time in two years indicates that the authorities believe the loyalist gunplay is not over, and is all too likely to produce more casualties.
The associate of Adair's who was killed was named locally as Jackie Coulter, who died with another loyalist, Bobby Mahood. The two men were sitting in a Land Rover outside a bookmaker's shop on the Crumlin Rd, when a gunman appeared and fired eight or more shots at them.
Johnny Adair and his chief political spokesman, John White, arrived at the scene of the shooting. Shortly afterwards the UVF attacked a prison welfare office associated with the UFF, spraying the Shankill Rd premises with bullets.
In a speedy retaliation a gang of UFF members ran to nearby offices occupied by the UVF's political wing and attacked it with hammers and other weapons. They eventually set fire to the building.
In a further incident police made arrests after they were fired at in the district. Gangs of men associated with both groups could be seen roaming the streets as shopkeepers closed their premises early in anticipation of more trouble.
There had been talk of calling in a mediator to help settle the dispute , but the deaths and other violence made it likely that for some days at least fighting is more likely than negotiations.
UVF political spokesman Billy Hutchinson described the killings as a tragedy but refused to condemn the attack saying: "Condemnation doesn't get us anywhere. People are angry and frustrated. He said he blamed the UFF "for bringing us to this."
The Shankill, one of Belfast's toughest districts, has over the decades provided thousands of recruits for loyalist paramilitary groups, of which the UFF and UVF are the largest. Although the UVF has been the more enthusiastic about the peace process, there is no significant ideological difference between the groups.
This means that men and youths have tended to join whichever group their friends already belong to. This in turn means that fathers and sons, or brothers from the same family, may belong to different groups.
Although the district is large everyone knows where everyone else lives, so that the homes of UFF or UVF members are easily attacked at times such as this.
Family connections mean that outbreaks of feuding are eventually settled, but the macho culture means both sides are first eager to exact vengeance.
Conservative spokesman Andrew Mackay said the violence represented clear breaches of the loyalist ceasefires and called on the Government to recall prisoners who had been released early under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. He added: "They should make a start by putting the likes of Johnny Adair back in prison where they belong."
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson said: "This has got nothing to do with politics or the peace process. It is nothing less than squalid, murderous gang warfare."
- INDEPENDENT
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