Loyalist paramilitary feud ends

A feud between loyalist paramilitaries which left three people dead and several wounded has ended.

A joint statement from the groups was issued after a meeting on Tuesday.

Last week, sources told the BBC a breakthrough in the feud could be announced within days.

Members of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA) have been attempting to try to end the bloody dispute which has centred on east Belfast.

Jim Gray escaped murder attempt

Since the feud began last month, there have been nine shootings, including the three murders.

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

'No involvement'

Then, a 41-year-old man, Geoffrey Thomas Gray, was shot dead at Ravenhill Avenue, also in east Belfast.

A third man, Alexander McKinley, died a week after being shot in south east Belfast.

Police set up a special unit to investigate the feud, with up to 25 officers working full-time on the dispute.

A police spokesman said there had been concern the feud could have spread from Belfast to other areas of Northern Ireland.

In a statement issued to the BBC, the LVF said it now "totally accepts that the UDA in east Belfast had no involvement in the Warnock murder".

A joint statement said both organisations had now resolved their differences, and that intermediaries have been agreed in order to prevent any further conflict between the groups.

Leadership figures in the LVF and UDA met in a hotel on Tuesday and agreed the joint statement.

It was their third meeting in recent days, and their statement officially ends the latest feud within loyalism.

Following a meeting earlier this month, the LVF indicated a willingness to enter into mediation, while reserving the right to defend its members.

The Ulster Political Research Group - which provides political analysis to the UDA - then responded.

It said a space should be created to allow a solution to be found which could end the violence.