World IN BRIEF : BRITAIN : N. Ireland Guerrilla Leader Slain in Belfast

Gino Gallagher, a leading member of a Northern Ireland guerrilla group, was assassinated when he went to collect money at a welfare benefit office in western Belfast, a republican stronghold. Gallagher, 32, was said to be chief of staff of the left-wing Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Belfast police indicated that the slaying was part of an internal INLA feud--a theory dismissed as “rubbish” by spokesman Kevin McQuillan of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the INLA’s political wing. McQuillan said that “there are obviously those, including the British intelligence services, who were very concerned about the rising profile and influence of the [party] within nationalist working-class areas.” He said Protestant guerrillas denied responsibility.