The PSNI last night had 100 officers patrolling loyalist areas of north and west Belfast to try to prevent an escalation of a dispute that senior police officers have characterised as a criminal 'turf war' between loyalist paramilitaries.
Supt Gary White yesterday expressed "serious concern" that a series of shootings, assaults, car burnings, petrol bombings and intimidation involving rival Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) gangs could escalate into a murderous dispute.
The more powerful UVF and the LVF have long been at loggerheads in north Belfast and in the general Shankill area. This most recent dispute erupted in December and simmered through the Christmas period.
It reignited at the weekend with several alleged UVF attacks on taxi-drivers and counterattacks from the LVF.
Supt White said: "people's lives were being put at risk" which was why he had more than doubled the number of police officers patrolling the area last night from 40 to 100. A specialist detective unit was also involved in trying to end the violence.
The Call-a-Cab company of Mr Jackie Mahood, a leading loyalist figure in north Belfast who broke away from the UVF's political wing, the Progressive Unionist Party in the 1990s, has borne the brunt of the attacks. About seven company taxis were burned out since the weekend.
