Loyalist feud victim dies

Mr McKinley was shot in Euston Street

A man shot in the head in east Belfast last week has died in hospital.

Alexander McKinley of Portallo Street was shot in Euston Street in the Woodstock Road area last Monday night.

The police said at the time the shooting was linked to the loyalist feud.

Last week, paramilitary leaders took part in talks with Protestant clergy following shooting attacks linked to the loyalist feud.

Churchmen on the Loyalist Commission held the meetings on Tuesday following two shootings in east Belfast, including that of Mr McKinley, who was 22.

'Escaped unharmed'

Both shootings were linked to the feud between the Ulster Defence Association and the smaller Loyalist Volunteer Force.

Before Mr McKinley was shot, a gunman fired shots at a man aged in his 30s, who was walking along through the Beersbridge Road area. He escaped unharmed.

It followed the murder of a 41-year-old man, Geoffrey Thomas Gray, shot dead at Ravenhill Avenue, also in east Belfast.

The latest loyalist feud can be traced back to two shootings in September - the murder of a LVF member Stephen Warnock, and the wounding of Jim Gray - a senior UDA member in east Belfast.

Since then, there have been seven more shootings.