Loyalist paramilitaries today attacked and set fire to a north Belfast barber's shop before reportedly firing shots at a house in the Brae Hill Crescent area.
Members of the Ulster Defence Association are believed to be responsible for the attacks which happened at 1.15 p.m. The attack is thought to have been carried out in retaliation to an attack on two houses by a rival faction hours earlier.
Gunmen opened fire on a businessman's house in Brae Hill after setting fire to his hair salon on the Upper Crumlin Road. The PSNI said no-one was injured in either incident.
The latest shooting has been linked to a festering dispute between the UDA's C Company and the organisation's leadership which earlier this year expelled the hardline west Belfast unit. Earlier today members of the ousted group were blamed for targeting nearby homes.
Witnesses said seven car loads of men drove into the Westland Drive and broke windows. A car parked outside one of the properties was also wrecked. It is understood the family of a senior C Company member who defected from its stronghold in the Lower Shankill estate live in one of the two houses attacked.
A well-placed loyalist source said: "North Belfast UDA has just retaliated. They wrecked this guy's barbers and then went and shot up his home.
"He's now down in the Lower Shankill looking for back-up."
PA