Funeral of 'feud victim'

Mr Taylor was shot in a loyalist area of Belfast

The funeral has taken place of Martin Taylor who was murdered in north Belfast on 26 May.

The 35-year-old man was shot dead when a gunman opened fire indiscriminately as he and a friend repaired a wall outside a house in the loyalist Ballysillan area.

Police believed Mr Taylor could have been a victim of a feud between the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force and a rival loyalist terrorist group.

Martin Taylor had been helping a neighbour rebuild a wall

He had done some election work for the Progressive Unionist Party, which is linked to the UVF.

PUP spokesmen Billy Hutchinson and David Ervine joined several hundred mourners in a short service at the victim's Ballysillan home before the cortege made its way to a funeral parlour on the Crumlin Road.

Billy Hutchinson blamed the killing on the Loyalist Volunteer Force, but that group issued a statement saying it had taken no part in the murder.

Fears feud could escalate

Another man narrowly escaped injury in a gun attack on his home on Ballygowan, County Down on Sunday evening.

Several weapons, including an AK47 assault rifle, were fired in the attack which was blamed on the UVF.

The Ford Mondeo used by the gunmen was earlier hijacked in the Shankill area of Belfast.

The other main loyalist group, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, has also been accused of involvement in the attacks.

But this has been denied by Johnny Adair, the group's former leader in west Belfast, who was jailed for directing terrorism.

"What's going on out there is nothing to do with the Ulster Freedon Fighters. So, therefore, it is none of the Ulster Freedom Fighters' business," he said.

It is thought these latest attacks are the continuation of a feud between the UVF and LVF which was linked to the murder of prominent loyalist Richard Jameson, who was shot dead outside his home in Portadown, County Down, in January.

The security forces now fear the feud between the two groups could escalate.