Brutal feud 'execution'

An ongoing feud between unionist paramilitary organisations has
left another man dead and another critically injured.

The 'Ulster Volunteer Force' was blamed for the murder of a
20-year-old Craig McCausland in north Belfast early yesterday
morning while the breakaway 'Loyalist Volunteer Force' is
thought responsible for seriously wounding a man in the same
area less than two hours earlier.

Mr McCausland died after a three-man armed gang burst into his
home at Dhu-Varren in north Belfast around 1.30 am yesterday.
His partner and young baby were in the house when he was shot
several times.

UVF gunmen have been blamed for what was described as a
“ruthless execution”.

The attack was one of four shootings in less than 24 hours
involving the UVF and its enemies in the breakaway Loyalist
Volunteer Force.

The retaliation killing followed three earlier attacks blamed on
the LVF.

In the most serious, a man in his 20s was shot several times as
he walked his dogs past a unionist bonfire site on the Crumlin
Road.

He was critically injured in the midnight shooting and underwent
emergency surgery.

It also emerged that a mother and child escaped injury early on
Sunday morning when shots were fired into a house on
Silverstream Avenue and at a nearby address.

Several men on both sides have been killed as the mutual desire
for supremacy and proceeds of crime sporadically erupts into
all-out violence.

The latest attacks have been linked to a murder in the city
earlier this month.

Jameson Lockhart was gunned down as he sat on a lorry in east
Belfast on July 1.

The 25-year-old victim, who was from the north of the city and
believed to have LVF connections, had been clearing rubble from
the site of a demolished bar when the killers struck.

Senior UVF and LVF figures have tightened up their security as
further attacks in this long-running UVF-LVF feud appeared
likely.

Warning that tensions in north Belfast were at exceptional
levels, Sinn Fein representative Gerry Kelly said: "History
teaches us that feuds between loyalist gangs tend to end with
attacks on Catholics".

A loyalist source was reported to have said the UVF was
determined to “wipe out” the LVF “once and for all” in north
Belfast.

“This thing has gone on for years with various shootings on both
sides, but now the LVF is down to the one family in
Ballysillan,” the source said.

“The UVF has eliminated the LVF in Portadown and in east Belfast
and now they are going to wipe out what’s left in Ballysillan.

“This has been coming for a very long time and there is little
love lost on either side.

“I doubt if Craig McCausland will be the last fatality before
this feud is over.”