Men released after feud murder quizzing

Experts examine house where Sam Rocket was shot

Four men have been released without charge after questioning about the murder of a north Belfast man, which has been linked to a loyalist feud.

They were arrested on Saturday as Sam Rocket's funeral was being held.

The 22-year-old was the third man to have been shot dead this week as a feud between the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters and the rival Ulster Volunteer Force flared up in west and north Belfast.

Mr Rocket had connections to the UVF and is believed to have been murdered in reprisal for the murder of two men on Monday, one of whom was a member of the UDA.

Hundreds attended Mr Rocket's funeral

Sam Rocket was shot in front of his baby daughter and girlfriend in the loyalist Oldpark area of north Belfast on Wednesday night.

He was murdered after Jackie Coulter, a senior UDA member and another man Bobby Mahood, were shot dead as they sat in a jeep outside a bookmakers on the Crumlin Road on Monday afternoon.

A major security operation was mounted for Mr Rocket's funeral at his Vistula Street home off the Crumlin Road.

Armed police lined the route his cortege took through the Shankill area.

A lone piper led the procession of more than 1,000 mourners from Mr Rocket's home and men in white shirts, black trousers, ties and armbands flanked the coffin.

Paramilitary wreaths accompanied Jackie Coulter's cortege

The police and army have been maintaining a strong security presence in the Shankill area where the feud is centred following the funerals of the three feud victims.

On Friday a number of imitation firearms were found in a search operation at a house on the lower Shankill Road on Friday night.

The police also carried out a number of searches in loyalist areas of north Belfast on Saturday morning.

Tension raised by the feud has forced more than 40 families to leave their homes on the Shankill Road. They started applying to be rehoused after the feud flared up at a UDA-linked festival on the road last weekend.