Killing raises fears of new tit-for-tat violence

ULSTER'S FRAGILE peace process was under severe threat last night after a prominent loyalist was shot dead in Belfast, provoking fears of a renewed outbreak of murderous sectarian violence.

As the security forces went on alert for a possible Protestant paramilitary backlash, the talks faced a separate crisis after Mo Mowlam, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Ken Maginnis, security spokesman for the Ulster Unionist Party, called a truce over a bitter feud which was leading to a political impasse.

Earlier, Ms Mowlam had stated that she would no longer talk to Mr Maginnis because of a series of "personal attacks" by him against her, unless he apologised.

The MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone refused and stated that he was now "effectively barred from the talks". But with the situation worsening in the province the two - who had been involved in a series of fierce clashes in recent weeks - agreed to put aside their differences at a meeting in a canteen in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon.

Robert Dougan, the man killed yesterday, was said to be associated with the Ulster Defence Association, and had been the subject of two previous murder attempts. The last one was just over a year ago when he survived a shooting. He was in his thirties and lived with his wife and 12-year- old son in the Suffolk area of south Belfast.

Mr Dougan was shot by a lone gunman as he sat at the wheel of his car outside the Balmoral Textiles factory in the south-western Belfast suburb of Dunmurry. A man in a baseball cap and two other men were was seen running away from the scene. Last night, the police were checking a red Mondeo car abandoned at the nearby nationalist Twinbrook Estate as the probable getaway vehicle.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but loyalist factions blamed republicans for the killing. Last month the Irish National Liberation Army shot another leading loyalist, Jim Guiney, as he worked behind the counter of his Dunmurry carpet shop.

A friend of Mr Dougan who had been with him minutes before he was shot said: "He was very wary - he knew they were after him." He added that Mr Dougan had been very conscious of the security risk and had taken precautions at his home.

Mr Dougan was the second man to be shot dead in Belfast in 24 hours. On Monday night, a drug dealer, Brendan Campbell, was gunned down outside a restaurant. RUC sources said the IRA, under the pseudonym of Direct Action Against Drugs, had shot and wounded Mr Campbell several weeks ago.

Republican and loyalist traded accusations over the killings and each claimed the other was trying to sabotage the peace process. A senior RUC officer described the situation as " incendiary", and warned of "the dangers of random attacks by splinter groups".

Mr Maginnis maintained that Mr Dougan's murder was "sanctioned by the IRA". He added: "It was obviously an attack to provoke reaction from the Ulster Freedom Fighters in order to make impossible the re-admission of the UDP to the talks process. It is imperative that there should be no retaliation for the murder."

Gary McMichael, leader of the Ulster Democratic Party, also claimed the latest killing had been carried out to provoke a loyalist response. "Quite clearly some republican group has carried this out, the object of killing this man, a Protestant, was because they want to provoke a response," he said.

The killers were also condemned by John Hume, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party - who described them as "enemies of the people of Northern Ireland" - and Seamus Close, deputy leader of the Alliance Party.

There was no immediate response from either Sinn Fein or the IRA over the Dougan killing. But earlier Sinn Fein's president, Gerry Adams, had insisted that his party had no involvement in the killing of Mr Campbell. He accused Unionists of trying to exploit the murder for political purposes. "They don't care who was killed. What they see is some tactical advantage to themselves in an attempt to wreck this talks process and oust Sinn Fein from it," Mr Adams said.