Northern Ireland journalist Mr Martin O'Hagan was shot dead by hardline loyalists who were split over plans to reignite a feud with a rival paramilitary group, it was claimed today.
The Sunday World, which the 51-year-old investigative reporter worked for, claims it has the names of three Loyalist Volunteer Force members who are behind Mr O'Hagan's killing.
The names of the three men have been passed to the RUC but it said they would not be published to avoid compromising the RUC investigation into the killing.
Mr O'Hagan was shot dead on September 28th just yards from his home in Lurgan, Co Armagh as he returned with his wife Marie from a pub.
The newspaper alleged the reporter was killed because one of three LVF leaders was anxious to avoid the all-out war which his colleagues wanted with the rival Ulster Volunteer Force.
The LVF was formed in 1996 by Billy Wright after his UVF unit in Mid Ulster was expelled for the murder of Catholic taxi driver Mr Michael McGoldrick during the Drumcree crisis.
A death threat was issued against Wright, who was dubbed ‘King Rat' in the tabloids by Mr O'Hagan - a nickname which stuck for the rest of his life.
Wright was later gunned down in a prison van in the high security Maze Jail in December 1997 by Irish National Liberation Army inmates while waiting to be taken to the visitors' centre. The shooting threatened to derail the negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement and sparked an orgy of loyalist violence.
However MS Mo Mowlam, the then Northern Ireland Secretary, managed to persuade loyalist prisoners not to abandon their ceasefire during a dramatic visit to the Maze Prison.
In recent years, the LVF has declared its opposition to the Belfast Agreement and was also the only paramilitary group to carry out an act of decommissioning.
It has also forged close links with the Ulster Defence Association which recently withdrew support for the Agreement. Ulster Freedom Fighters commander Johnny Adair took part in a public show of strength with them during the Drumcree crisis in July 2000, shortly before his return to jail.
The LVF was also accused of shooting dead loyalist Richard Jameson and of sparking the bitter loyalist feud last year between the UDA and UVF.
The Sunday Worldclaimed two of a triumvirate of LVF leaders were keen to resurrect the feud with the UVF following a recent attack on one of their members. The newspaper alleged: "The third, however, didn't want another all-out war. He didn't want anything which could land him back in jail.
"To try and prevent a full-scale UVF/LVF war breaking out again in North Armagh, he spun a line to his two henchmen that Martin was being fed stories by a UVF contact who they hate in Portadown. And he told them that instead of sparking another feud, Marty should be murdered to prove to the UVF what the LVF are still capable of."
Mr O'Hagan's murder was condemned by fellow journalists and politicians around the world. More than 1,500 people attended his funeral in his hometown of Lurgan, County Armagh last week.
PA