Fears are growing of an escalation of the loyalist feud following the murder of a 22-year-old man in north Belfast.
Jonathan Stewart was shot dead in a house in Manor Street yesterday. Johnny Adair's Shankill Road C Company of the UDA has been blamed for the killing.
Mr Stewart's family last night insisted he was not involved in any paramilitary group. He is the nephew of a well-known local loyalist who has clashed with Adair. The victim was standing in the kitchen with another man when a gunman forced his way into the house shortly before 7.30 a.m.
Mr Stewart was singled out as the target. The man talking to him was not injured. Neighbours reported hearing five or six shots. It is understood the victim did not live in the house.
Both security and loyalist sources said they were firmly convinced Adair's supporters were responsible. Mr Stewart's aunt, Ms Anne Darragh, said he was shot simply because of his family connections.
"He wasn't involved in anything, he did not do anything wrong. He was an innocent bystander. He was just an easy target for them to get at and that was it. They don't care who they get."
Adair and his close associate, Mr John White, were expelled from the UDA in October. Mr White said he did not know who was responsible for the killing. "I am sure there is some connection with the ongoing difficulties within the UDA. Everyone knows that, in the course of a feud, it always does end up in death and it always does end up in a resolution. I would argue that we are better resolving it before there are any more deaths."
Mr Sammy Duddy of the Ulster Research Group, which provides political analysis to the mainstream UDA, said he believed Adair's supporters carried out the murder.
"Jonathan was a mild-mannered young lad who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He has been singled out because he is a member of a prominent loyalist family. Even the dogs on the street know who carried this murder out. I cannot see any attempt at mediation by any side - it has gone too far."
Det Supt Roy Suitters of the Police Service of Northern Ireland described the killing as "an execution which has brought more grief to yet another family in the area".
After the UDA expelled Johnny Adair and John White, it called on its members to distance themselves from the two men. However, activists in the Lower Shankill have remained loyal. Both factions have carried out several bomb attacks on each other.
Meanwhile, two men have been injured in separate shooting incidents in the North. A 24-year-old was shot in the groin in Lurgan, Co Armagh. He was attacked by several men in the Mourneview area of the town early yesterday. His condition is not life-threatening.
A 25-year-old man is recovering in hospital from a "punishment" attack in south Belfast on Thursday night. He was shot in the ankles in Broadway Parade in the Donegall Road area after being attacked by up to four men.