LOYALIST leaders held urgent talks last night to decide their reaction to the killing of a British: soldier in south Armagh.
Sources said that members of the Combined Loyalist Military Command and politicians from the fringe loyalist parties met to discuss their reaction to the deteriorating security situation.
Hardline elements in the UVF and UDA are said to be "straining at the leash" to restart their campaign following the Bessbrook attack.
However, figures in the Progressive Unionist Party and the Ulster Democratic Party are understood to be urging restraint. "They want the Provos to hang themselves," said a source. "They don't want loyalists getting involved in a bloody, sectarian war that will ultimately offer them nothing."
Mr David Ervine of the PUP, which has links with the UVF, described the situation as "particularly dangerous" and warned the killing risked taking the North towards a resumption of loyalist violence.
Mr Ervine added that the IRA must not be allowed to hold the community to ransom. Condemning the killing of Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick, he said:
Here was another young man who, in the long tradition of young British people, has died facing fascism. The Provos are proving day and daily that they are not committed to peace. We have got to leave them behind.
The Catholic Primate, Archbishop Sean Brady, said he was "totally appalled" by the killing.
Dr Brady offered his sympathy to the soldier's family. He described the shooting as "an evil deed", aimed at undermining the already fragile peace process. It increased the sense of fear and horror in the community but had not extinguished the deep desire for peace.
The Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, said the killing was "a clear challenge to the law-abiding community which has endured so much".
The Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, said that the killing would not affect British government policy and that every effort would be taken to protect the community. He urged the Combined Loyalist Military Command not to break its ceasefire and warned loyalists that they could be expelled from talks if they returned to violence.
The Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, described the shooting as "a tragic inevitability" which would not have happened if the British government had held all-party talks.
The Ulster Unionist MP, Mr Ken Maginnis, appealed to the CLMC not to be provoked by the IRA. "By maintaining its discipline, it will strike a more telling blow for Ulster and the union "he said.