NORTHERN Irish leaders condemned Sunday night’s murder of loyalist paramilitary John “Bonzer” Boreland yesterday in an apparent internecine shooting.

The senior member of the dissident north Belfast group of the Ulster Defence Association was gunned down just before 10pm in Sunningdale Gardens in the unionist Bally­sillan area.

His section, led by Egyptian-Irish loyalist “brigadier” Andre Shoukri, had been involved in local feuds with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

Last week the faction reportedly fled the Tiger’s Bay area after a series of violent run-ins with the Mount Vernon UVF.

Brigadiers of other UVF sections said the north Belfast mob was on its own in the feud.

In 2014 Mr Boreland was shot in the thigh in an attack on him and Mr Shoukri by former north Belfast “brigadier” John Bunting — deposed by the Shoukri faction — and his ally John Howcroft.

Mr Boreland was also said to be heavily involved in local criminal activity, further muddying the waters in the investigation.

Northern Irish First Minister Arlene Foster, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and the British government’s Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire all condemned the killing.

Sinn Fein Member of the Legislative Assembly for North Belfast Gerry Kelly called on anyone with information on the killing to contact the police.

Ulster Unionist member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board Ross Hussey said: “Murder is murder and cannot be justified.

“It must be condemned.”

“The people behind this attack want to plunge us back to the past. They must not be allowed to succeed,” he said.

Communist Party of Ireland executive committee member Joe Bowers told the Morning Star: “This murder highlights the question of what is the purpose of loyalist, or any, paramilitary organisations.

“They claim to represent sections of our community, all of which are facing these serious problems caused by austerity.

“Northern Ireland has higher unemployment and a higher proportion of the working poor than any other locality in these islands,” Mr Bowers said.

“These paramilitary organisations should reorientate themselves towards combining with others similarly adversely affected in opposition to anti-people government policies.”