Derry man killed in loyalist feud

• In the past week, a 22-year-old loyalist has died in hospital after being shot in the head as the feud between factions of the UVF in the Waterside area of Derry intensified. Darren Thompson was shot in the head by members of the UVF as he walked to work through Woodburn Park in the Waterside on Wednesday morning 29 September.

Thompson, from Harkness Gardens, was discovered at around 7am after the ambulance service received a call. He was taken to Altnagelvin hospital, where he died two days later.

Thompson was recently forced to flee from his home in the Loyalist Nelson Drive area after a row between rival factions of the UVF.

The 22-year-old's killing has been linked to tensions within the ranks of the unionist paramilitary group in the city. In recent weeks, a loyalist was seriously injured when a Waterside bar was attacked by UVF gunmen. In another attack, a pipe bomb was left on the bonnet of a car belonging to family from the Tullyally area.

Two men and two women questioned in connection with the killing of Thompson have been released without charge.

• Meanwhile, a 38-year-old loyalist appeared at Derry courthouse on Monday 4 October charged with the attempted murder of a man at the Cosy Inn bar at Church Brae last month. James Edward Taylor was also charged with possession of a semi-automatic pistol and eleven blast and incendiary type bombs.

He was also charged with 'having items and information likely to be of use to terrorists' after searches were carried out on a house in the loyalist Lincoln Courts area last week in connection with Thompson's killing.

• A Catholic taxi driver and his passengers had a lucky escape after unionist paramilitaries threw a pipe bomb at his vehicle as he drove through Lincoln Court early on Sunday morning 3 October.

The driver said he saw a group of about eight men who were wearing hoods and had their faces covered and as he approached them one of the men had an object that looked like a pipe.

"He threw it at the side of the car and there was loud bang. I just put my foot down and sped out of there."

The taxi driver warned fellow drivers to be very vigilant when driving through the Waterside area. "It will be only a matter of time before someone is seriously inured or even killed by unionist paramilitaries," he said.