The mother of a Catholic man shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in north Belfast on Sunday night has appealed for no retaliation.
Mr Gerard Lawlor (19) was walking home from a public house on the Antrim Road towards his parents' home on the Whitewell Road when he was hit a number of times in a drive-by shooting.
The Ulster Freedom Fighters last night claimed responsibility for the killing, saying it had been a "measured military response" to republican violence.
Earlier the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name for the UFF, had said they had carried out the killing.
In a statement the UFF said its ceasefire had held "under extreme provocation from republican gunmen in Provisional IRA controlled interface areas".
It continued: "The PSNI and British Army have done nothing to protect the Protestant people living in these areas . . . We warn republicans that further attacks on our community will be met with further military action."
Mr Lawlor's mother, Sharon, said she would be praying for her son's killers. The victim, who lived with his father, mother and four brothers aged between 10 and 20, was about to set up home with his girlfriend and 18-month-old son.
A number of family members were on holiday in Newcastle, Co Down, when police had to break the news to them. Mr Lawlor is believed to have been wearing a Celtic football top when he was shot.
Eyewitnesses said they heard four of five shots. Mr Lawlor died at the scene after police called a priest, Father Dan White, to administer the last rites.
Father White yesterday urged the community to reject the paramilitaries responsible for the killing.
"There are going to be more sore hearts. I'm sure of that, as a result of injuries and perhaps further death. But in the end evil will be the loser," he insisted.
Earlier on Sunday evening a Protestant man was shot and injured in the Glenbryn area of Ardoyne in north Belfast.
Security sources believe that the INLA may have been responsible for the attack. The 19-year-old man was shot in the groin as he stood in Glenbryn Park close to the location of last year's Holy Cross School picket. He was in a stable condition in hospital yesterday.
A short time later, a Catholic man escaped injury in the nationalist Oldpark area when two men on a motorcycle aimed a gun at him but the weapon jammed.
A few minutes later another Catholic man was shot in the upper thigh in nearby Rosapenna Street. Police were also investigating reports of shootings off the Old Cavehill Road and the Ligoniel Road, both in north Belfast.
British army technical officers have made safe a pipe-bomb in east Belfast. The device was found in nationalist Clandeboye Drive close to the sectarian interface with loyalist Cluan Place yesterday afternoon.