The Loyalist Volunteer Force is edging towards a resolution of its bloody feud with the rival UDA. Paramilitary figures have been in talks with Protestant churchmen, under the auspices of the Loyalist Commission, in an effort to stop the violence.
The LVF issued a statement last night claiming the right to protect its members from attack. But the statement is also being interpreted as offering a no-first-strike policy, with a hint that there will be no attacks on the UDA if the LVF is not attacked.
The commission, an umbrella organisation of clergy, unionist politicians and paramilitary figures, met the UDA ruling body on Tuesday and then had talks with the loyalist leader Mr Johnny Adair. He was freed from prison last May having served a term for directing terrorism.
Police are treating a gun attempt on the life of a Co Down man as the latest in the dispute which has involved nine shooting incidents and two deaths. The latest victim, a 41-year-old man who has yet to be named, was hit in the chest and stomach in the early hours of yesterday as he answered a knock on his door in Church Street, Bangor.
He was taken to the Ulster Hospital near Belfast where his condition is described as stable. A man has been arrested in connection with the shooting.