LVF linked to fatal shooting

The area was sealed off as police examined the scene

Security sources in Northern Ireland believe a loyalist paramilitary splinter group was behind the murder of a man in County Armagh on Wednesday night.

The Loyalist Volunteer Force is suspected of shooting dead 37-year-old Grahame Marks.

A man was arrested but released without charge later on Thursday.

The shooting happened just before 2300 BST on Wednesday at a house in the Protestant Tullyhugh Estate in Tandragee.

The victim was alone in the house when a gunman forced his way in and shot him several times.

It is understood he was shot in the head and died at the scene.

It is thought that Mr Marks had been questioned last year in connection with the murders of two young men near Tandragee. He was released without charge.

Andrew Robb pictured with his girlfriend

David McIlwaine, 18, and Andrew Robb, 19, both from Portadown, were discovered stabbed to death on an isolated road last February.

The police said they were not connected with any paramilitary group.

However, they were believed to have been murdered as a result of a feud between rival loyalist paramilitaries the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the breakaway LVF.

RUC Chief Inspector Derek Williamson said Mr Marks had been "brutally murdered".

He also appealed for information about a car thought to have been used in the killing.

"We believe a silver Audi car was involved in the murder and that car was subsequently abandoned on the Stramore Road in Gilford," he said.

"We're particularly interested in speaking to anyone who has seen a car of that description anywhere in the area in the last few days.

"More particularly, speaking to anyone who has seen the car being abandoned."

David Trimble: "Appalled" by murder

First Minister David Trimble, in whose Upper Bann constituency the murder took place, said he was "appalled" by the killing.

He said it had "all the hallmarks of a killing carried out by experienced killers, people attached perhaps to a paramilitary organisation".

He added: "Why are these organisations still in existence, what are they there for, what is their purpose?

"What are they there to protect? The answer tends to be to protect their own self interest and the rackets and the mafia-style sub-culture that has developed as the result of the years of paramilitarism."

'Evil act'

Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon condemned the murder calling it an "evil act".

In a statement, he said: "There can be no justification for such a callous murder."

DUP assembly member Paul Berry said: "If this was carried out in the name of loyalism, then it is sickening," he said.

"Everybody thought these type of shootings had stopped. This feud has been going on for far too long and must end."

Ulster Unionist mayor of Armagh James Clayton said he knew the shooting victim and his family well.

"It is a great tragedy and all efforts must be made to catch the culprits," he said.

UVF split

The area around the house remained cordoned off overnight on Wednesday.

The loyalist feud in the Portadown area dates back to the split of local UVF commander Billy Wright from the UVF in Portadown, to form his own group, the LVF.

He was subsequently murdered by a republican paramilitary group while serving a sentence in the Maze prison.

Last January, the UVF blamed the LVF for the murder of Richard Jameson, whom security sources said was the leader of the UVF in the Portadown area.