A man in his 30s was shot dead in what appears to have been another murder linked to the feud between rival loyalist factions in Belfast.
The man, named locally as Mr Raymond Green, was shot in Kimberley Street in the Ballynafeigh area of the upper Ormeau Road at around 6.30 p.m.
The killing, which has been claimed by the Ulster Freedom Fighters, a cover name for the UDA, took place near the Kimberley Bar, where known loyalists meet and the scene of previous murders over the past 15 years.
The organisation claimed the murder was in revenge for the killing of Mr Jonathan Stewart, a 22-year-old shot dead in north Belfast on December 20th.
The latest victim was from the strongly loyalist Village area of south Belfast. He was said by some at the scene to have been an associate of Mr Johnny Adair, and an early theory was that he was targeted by a member of the mainstream UDA.
It is the first paramilitary murder of 2003.
Mr Adair's spokesman, Mr John White, last night denied any involvement in the shooting. "I cannot see how this can be associated with the feud. He was well known all over Belfast. He is a member of the UDA and he was shot for no other reason."
Mr Adair and Mr White were expelled from the UDA last autumn and a bitter rivalry has developed between Mr Adair and his renegade "C" Company, based in the lower Shankill area of west Belfast, and other sections of the UDA in the north and east of the city.
A spate of shootings and attacks had resulted in the deaths of four people before last night's murder.
The killing of Mr Stewart has been linked by sources to Mr Adair's group from the lower Shankill Road. His family insists he had no loyalist connections, but he is the nephew of a well-known loyalist figure.
A 23-year-old suspect is being questioned about the murder.
An attempt to halt the dispute between the UDA and the Adair faction was made in early November. At that point there had been nine shootings, including three murders.
The feud can be traced back to two shootings in September - the murder of Loyalist Volunteer Force member Mr Stephen Warnock, and the wounding of Mr Jim Gray, a senior UDA member in east Belfast. Then, a 41-year-old man, Mr Geoffrey Thomas Gray, was shot dead at Ravenhill Avenue, also in east Belfast.
A third man, Mr Alexander McKinley, died a week after he was shot in south-east Belfast.
The effort to broker a halt to the attacks involved several meetings between rival loyalists and the issuing of a joint statement. But the attempts came to nothing and violent incidents intensified throughout last month despite efforts by a specialist police unit set up to control the situation.
The incidents included bomb attacks on the Rathcoole home of Mr John Gregg, said to be a UDA commander in south Antrim, and a gun attempt on Mr Tommy Kirkham, a spokesman for the Ulster Political Research Group, which is linked to the UDA.
The UDA had its ceasefire declared bogus by the then secretary of state, Dr John Reid, in October 2001.
The latest killing was condemned by Dr Alasdair McDonnell, an SDLP Assembly member for south Belfast. He said such actions were "intolerable" and were "especially distressing given that this area is a mixed working class part of south Belfast." "Everyone is now threatened," he said. He called on the community to give 100 per cent support to the PSNI in their hunt for the killers.