Fears that UDA feud is spreading

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7011124.stm

Version 0 of 1.

There are fears other areas are being drawn into a loyalist feud which started in Carrickfergus.

Shots were fired and a pipe-bomb attack carried out over the weekend in in-fighting between mainstream UDA and a faction based in south-east Antrim.

There have now been reports that convoys of men had come into neighbouring Larne and held shows of strength in two bars.

Independent Unionist Councillor Jack McKee said feelings were running high.

"I thought we had left all this in the past - people don't want it there's no political cover for it, there's no support from the public," he said.

"I am at a loss to understand why others should come in convoys into our borough to upset what is a peaceful community."

George Robinson, who is vice-chair of the UDA splinter group Beyond Conflict in Larne, said they were trying to move from paramilitarism to helping the community.

"People from other areas seem to be coming into Larne to stir up and influence people away from Beyond Conflict," he said, adding that 95% of people in south-east Antrim were behind them.

There were reports of a show of strengthThe DUP MP for the area, Sammy Wilson, said there seemed to be instability.

"People are still getting houses pipe-bombed, shots fired at their houses and confrontations in estates and confrontations with the police," he said.

"They have got to ask themselves first off how much control do they have and secondly is their work being undermined by people within the same grouping."

In a statement, the police said they had not received any reports of a so-called show of strength in Larne at the weekend, nor had they received reports of masked men in the town during the same period.

They urged anyone who has evidence of such incidents to contact them.

The police also said they recognised there were concerns in the town, and additional resources - including the police helicopter - were used to monitor activity at the weekend.