Tensions within loyalist para militarism are threatening to drag the Ulster Volunteer Force, the Ulster Defence Association and the Loyalist Volunteer Force into a deadly quarrel, according to senior loyalist figures.
Following the murder of Mr Richard Jameson at the suspected hands of the LVF and then the murders of Mr Andrew Robb and Mr David McIlwaine, reputedly with UVF involvement, the positions of the two main protagonists have hardened.
The LVF has threatened to "take out" high-ranking UVF members it claims were involved in killing the teenagers in Tandragee, Co Armagh. The UVF has denied involvement, and has said those who killed Mr Jameson will themselves be killed.
Now the dispute is causing strains in the UDA after some senior members broke free from a tacit agreement to keep out of the issue by siding with the LVF.
Loyalist sources in Portadown say the LVF is developing links with two senior UDA members, one of whom has a notorious paramilitary record and who was recently released early from prison under the Belfast Agreement.
These UDA figures from the Shankill in Belfast have warned they would not tolerate any UVF escalation of its action against the LVF.
This has aroused concerns within the broader UDA organisation where most members, according to insiders, believe it should stay out of the dispute.
Since Billy Wright broke from the UVF and formed the LVF in 1996, the antagonism between these two organisations has become bitter and deep. The UVF, despite its threats to disband forcefully the LVF and bring Wright to book, was unable to clamp down on the new organisation, which refused to accept the loyalist ceasefire and was responsible for numerous murders.
However, after Wright was murdered by the INLA in December 1997, control in the Portadown area gradually began to shift back to the UVF. In recent months the balance of power is said to be see-sawing between the two groupings.
At Christmas Mr Jameson, a UVF commander in mid-Ulster, was allegedly behind an attack on LVF members at Portadown Football Social Club. This is believed to have prompted the LVF to murder Mr Jameson at his home outside the town in January. The UVF said it would "wipe out" the LVF.
On February 19th Mr Robb and Mr McIlwaine were brutally stabbed to death. The LVF claimed the UVF was involved in these killings, though the UVF denied this. There were several calls for the two organisations to pull back from the dispute but to date they have spurned any notion of mediation.
There has been much chest-beating from the two sides. The LVF insisted it would retaliate against the UVF. Sources said that elements who were close to Billy Wright, part of a gang known as the Rat Pack, were intent on targeting senior UVF figures. A UVF source, however, said the organisation was not responsible for the Tandragee killings and it was still "waiting patiently to kill those who killed Richard Jameson". He added: "As far as the UVF is concerned, those people have to die."
He was conscious that two senior figures in the UDA had decided to take the part of the LVF, but believed that the bulk of the UDA would keep out of the feud. "Those in the UDA who are supporting the LVF are doing so to protect their drugs interests," he claimed.
A senior Belfast loyalist agrees a majority in the UDA wants to steer clear of the feud. A long-running turf war between the UVF and the UDA on the Shan kill was the reason the UDA figures sided with the LVF, he believes. "It's more of a power struggle between the two organisations, although drugs also comes into it," says the loyalist source. "Anyway, when it comes to drugs, the UVF can't afford to point the finger at anyone."
Loyalist sources say there are elements of "bluff and counter-bluff" to the exchange of threats but it would take very little for it to erupt into a major retaliatory feud. "When the loyalist groups start struggling among themselves and fracturing into subgroups, it becomes very volatile and dangerous. This is serious," warns one loyalist insider.