THE RUC believes that video and photographic evidence will help it in tracking the killer of Mr Dessie McCleery, who was shot dead by an INLA gunman in a crowded Belfast city centre pizza restaurant on Saturday afternoon.
The INLA faction responsible for the murder has threatened further killings, including that of Mr McCleery's girlfriend. She was present as the gunman singled out Mr McCleery in the Chicago Pizza Pie Factory, just off the Dublin Road.
The victim, who had jumped bail in the Republic where he was facing arms charges, was shot in the back and then in the head as he lay on the ground, witnesses said. Mr McCleery, the latest victim of the INLA feud that has claimed four lives, died instantly.
The killer was wearing a cap but was unmasked. About loo people were watching an abseiling charity event nearby, and police have appealed to anyone videoing or taking photographs to come forward.
Mr McCleery (37), from Lurgan, Co Armagh, was reputed to have been second in command of the INLA faction that murdered the INLA leader, Gino Gallagher, earlier this year. That killing triggered several tit for tat actions which left a number of people wounded and three dead, all murdered by the Gallagher faction. Calling itself the Belfast brigade of the INLA, it issued a statement admitting Mr McCleery's murder.
Three men suffered severe injuries in so called punishment beatings in north Belfast at the weekend. They were dragged from an Ardoyne club after midnight on Friday, and later assaulted with baseball bats and iron bars. Meanwhile, a man escaped an abduction in north Belfast early yesterday when he managed to disarm his attacker and flee.
