House of Ulster feud victim is burnt down

A murder victim's home was burnt down yesterday as feuding loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland faced new pressure to negotiate a peace settlement.

A murder victim's home was burnt down yesterday as feuding loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland faced new pressure to negotiate a peace settlement.

Both sides blamed each other after flames swept through the house where one of the three men killed in the fighting in the Shankill area was shot last week.

Hours earlier, a call by community workers for the violence to end had been backed by political representatives of one of the groups involved and the leadership of the Orange Order in Belfast.

The house where Sam Rocket, 22, was shot was empty when the fire started. His murder has been blamed on an Ulster Defence Association (UDA) attack in retaliation for the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) murders of two men. The UVF's political wing, the Progressive Unionist Party, blamed the UDA for the fire but the Ulster Democratic Party, the UDA's political organisation, accused the UVF.

Since the arrest and imprisonment of Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair last week, there have been fewer incidents linked to the feud and both sides have been urged to meet for talks.

Yesterday community workers in the Shankill area, where most of the violence erupted, said young people had been deeply traumatised. A statement by the workers said: "We urge the paramilitaries to find another way of resolving their conflict that does not impinge on the lives of their community, or irreversibly damage our children and young people."

Dawson Bailie, County Grand Master of the Orange Order, said: "The intervention of the community workers is significant and I would urge both sides to listen to their appeal to find alternative ways of resolving this conflict."