Killings of young men heighten tensions in Mid-Ulster

Tension was high in the Portadown and mid-Ulster areas last night following the murders of two young men in Tandragee, Co Armagh early on Saturday morning.

The killings are thought to be linked to the feud between the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Loyalist Volunteer Force, although local reports last night suggested that this was not a "formal" reprisal for the murder last month of leading loyalist Mr Richard Jameson outside Portadown.

The RUC was anxious to dampen speculation that the killings of Mr Andrew Robb (19), from Festival Road, Portadown, and his friend, Mr David McIlwaine (18), from the Laurels, Portadown, were directly linked to the LVF-UVF feud.

The UVF had threatened revenge for the murder of Mr Jameson. He was believed to be a senior UVF commander in mid-Ulster. But local sources said the nature of the killings indicated that this was not a carefully planned action.

Police said they were not connecting the two victims with any paramilitary organisation.

Several people were arrested in the mid-Ulster area early yesterday, but RUC Det Insp Alan Todd stressed that anti-terrorism legislation was not used.

He said that post-mortem examinations revealed both men had received multiple stab wounds. Their bodies were found at around 9 a.m. on Saturday at Druminure Road, outside Tandragee.

"Obviously we are aware that there is a lot of speculation about at the moment, but at this stage of the investigation it is too early to say what the motive was," added Det Insp Todd.

There were indications that the men were killed as a result of what police described as a series of scuffles in Tandragee, where Mr Robb and Mr McIlwaine were socialising.

Local sources said, however, that the disturbances involved factions sympathetic to the UVF and the LVF. Police said that the men were last seen at 1.30 a.m. in the town. It is suggested that they may have been waiting for a taxi back to Portadown.

The LVF, in a statement to a Belfast radio station, denied that the men were "members or affiliated to the LVF". The young men's distraught parents also denied their sons were involved in any paramilitary organisation.

Mr Paul McIlwaine, in media interviews, said that his son David was murdered because he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time." He said the young men were so "horrifically and brutally" murdered that the families were not allowed view their bodies.

His son was not involved in any way with loyalist paramilitaries, he added. There were people who knew who carried out the murders, and "if they have any sort of conscience at all", they should tell the police.

Mrs Ann Robb denied that her son was involved in the LVF and described his killers as "cowards, and the scum of the earth". She said that if the UVF had nothing to do with her son's killing it should say so. "They have been too quiet, they have said nothing," she told UTV.

Mr Bobby Jameson, brother of Mr Richard Jameson, expressed sympathy to the families of the dead men. He did not believe there was any connection between his brother's killing and the murders in Tandragee.