Fears are growing that a renewed feud could erupt between the UVF and LVF following a gun attack in Conlig, Co Down, that left one man dead and another injured.
The dead man, Adrian Porter (34), was awaiting trial for drugs offences and is understood to have been an associate of leading LVF figure Mr Mark Fulton. More than 30 shots were discharged by two men through the living-room window of the house in the Breezemount Park estate at around 10.40 p.m. on Tuesday. One man was armed with a handgun, the other with an AK-47 assault rifle.
Mr Porter died in hospital following the attack, while his girlfriend, who was upstairs, was unhurt.
The man injured in the attack had been ordered to leave the North in a warning issued by the "North Down Loyalist Dissidents" on Monday.
Supt Jonathan McIvor said yesterday detectives would be seeking to establish who was behind this group. He confirmed Mr Porter had been known to the RUC and he ruled out a sectarian motive for the killing.
Mr John White of the UDP, the political wing of the UDA/UFF, also blamed loyalist paramilitaries and urged no reprisals. The victim had been seen in the company of UFF leader Johnny Adair on Drumcree Hill last summer.
However, Mr Stewart Currie of the PUP, linked to the UVF, said he believed the shooting was drug related.
Security sources said the possibility of reprisals depended on how the LVF reacted to the killing. Mr Fulton was released from Maghaberry Prison last week.
Loyalist sources suggested the killing represented another revenge attack for the death of UVF leader Richard Jameson in Portadown last January and a further attempt by the UVF to wipe out the Mid-Ulster based splinter group.