Hours before murdered LVF commander Stephen Warnock was buried yesterday, gunmen attacked the home of one of his brothers.
This shooting in turn happened a short time after another leading loyalist, Jim Gray, was shot in the face in an apparent revenge attack for Mr Warnock's killing.
These incidents, which follow on already existing tensions between UDA and LVF paramilitaries in east Belfast over "business matters", have sparked fears of another imminent inter-loyalist feud.
That anyone would try to kill such a senior UDA figure as Mr Gray - who recently, as part of the loyalist commission, met Northern Secretary Dr John Reid - has raised concerns that the trouble could spread beyond east Belfast.
This dispute is complicated by factionalism within the UDA. Senior UDA member, Mr Johnny Adair, who was greeted by Mr Gray when he was released recently from prison, attended Mr Warnock's funeral yesterday. This was against the wishes of the UDA leadership, a senior loyalist source confirmed.
Mr Gray was in a stable condition in hospital yesterday after he was attacked at Glenlea Park in east Belfast after visiting a brother of Stephen Warnock, who was shot dead on Friday. Mr Warnock, who was known to be involved in the drugs trade, was shot dead in his BMW car, in front of his three-year-old daughter.
Mr Gray was shot in the jaw but managed to stagger to the nearby Garnerville police training college where he received emergency treatment, before being rushed to hospital.
Four hours later a number of shots were fired at the home of another of Mr Warnock's brothers at Invernook Park in east Belfast. No one was injured in that attack but it added to fears of an emerging feud. Mr Warnock's funeral yesterday was also disrupted by a hoax bomb alert near his east Belfast home.
The last major loyalist feud was two years ago between the UDA and the LVF on one side and the UVF on the other. It claimed the lives of about a dozen people, and led to scores of families being forced from their homes.
The blood-letting then was focused mainly on Portadown and the Shankill area of Belfast. So far, these latest shootings are concentrated on figures from east Belfast. However, there have been warnings it could spread into other loyalist areas. and that the main antagonists would be the UDA and LVF.
Mr John White, of the Ulster Political Research Group, which is linked to the UDA, said tensions were high in east Belfast and there were real concerns of another bloody loyalist in-fight.
"There certainly is that danger. There is a lot of uncertainty and anger about, and that is a very dangerous mix." He said intense behind-the-scenes activity was continuing to defuse tensions. The loyalist commission, comprised of loyalist paramilitaries, and church, trade union and community representatives, could be asked to broker a resolution to the dispute.
Despite Mr White's warnings, a senior UDA member in east Belfast said the differences between the UDA and LVF could be confined to east Belfast. "This is mainly about business and stuff like that," he said, adding that the dispute was more about individuals than the different groupings.
Mr Alan McQuillan, PSNI commander for Belfast, portrayed the attacks as part of "mafia" or "sordid" internal feuding over loyalist drugs and other criminal interests.
"This isn't about the UDA fighting the LVF, or whatever. It's down to faction fights between individuals. They seem to be motivated by all sorts of factors, principally business interests. It's basically a turf war," he said.