A Catholic taxi-driver was shot dead in Belfast last night in what appears to have been a retaliatory shooting for the INLA killing earlier in the day of a senior loyalist, Mr Jim Guiney.
The attack came hours after the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, and other political leaders had appealed for no retaliation.
The taxi-driver was named as Mr Larry Brennan (51), a separated man with two children from the Markets area of south Belfast. It is understood that he lived with his mother, but had recently become engaged to a woman from the loyalist Rathcoole estate.
Fears of another sectarian attack had grown yesterday after the INLA shot Mr Guiney dead in his carpet shop in Dunmurry, on the outskirts of south Belfast.
News of Mr Guiney's killing came shortly before a Sinn Fein delegation met the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, in Downing Street. Mr Blair plans further discussions with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, amid increasing anxiety in Dublin and London that the wave of sectarian killings should not destabilise the multi-party talks process.
The Taoiseach condemned the latest murders, saying that such "atrocities" would serve only to heighten tensions in the North. Appealing for restraint on all sides, he said that the "deplorable killings" should strengthen the resolve of everyone involved in the peace process to set the agenda for the future.
Mr Brennan was sitting in his car outside Enterprise Taxis on the Upper Ormeau Road in south Belfast at about 7.20 p.m. last night when a gunman approached and fired at least four shots. He was taken to hospital, where he died shortly afterwards. The gunman escaped in a waiting van.
Local nationalists blamed the UDA for the killing. The Workers' Party described it as a "blatant sectarian attack".
Mr Brennan's sister, Eilis, made an appeal for no retaliation. His brother said that he had been warned by the RUC that he was on a loyalist "death list".
A local SDLP councillor, Dr Alasdair McDonnell, who was a friend of Mr Brennan, condemned the shooting and described him as a "totally decent, innocent man who never harmed anyone".
The Upper Ormeau Road, where the shooting took place, is religiously mixed, but shortly before the 1994 ceasefires several Catholics were shot dead by loyalists and the IRA killed two local UDA leaders.
Mr Brennan is the fifth Catholic to be shot dead by loyalists in the North since the killing of the Loyalist Volunteer Force leader, Billy Wright, last month.
Mr Guiney (38), a father of four, died almost immediately after being shot. Two gunmen who entered his shop escaped in a waiting car, which was later found burning in the nationalist Twinbrook estate in west Belfast.
Police and loyalist sources said that Mr Guiney was a UDA commander in south Belfast. However, the paramilitary group made no statement on his killing.
The Ulster Democratic Party, the UDA's political wing, said that Mr Guiney had worked for it during last year's elections, but was not a formal member. The party leader, Mr Gary McMichael, described him as a "close friend" and said that republicans were attempting to destroy the peace process by the "horrific killing".
Dr Mowlam appealed for the cycle of retaliatory killings to cease. Speaking outside the Stormont talks, which resumed yesterday, she asked: "Why should we lose more lives when we are doing what we can to move things forward and provide an alternative?"
Adams meets Blair; Profiles of shooting victims: page 9; Analysis: page 16; Editorial comment: page 17 ein's Northern chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, extended his condolences to Mr Guiney's family and said that such killings did not advance the search for peace.