NI guerrilla leader Adair is freed

Adair was originally jailed for 16 years in 1995 for directing terrorism

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- One of Northern Ireland's most notorious anti-Catholic paramilitary leaders, Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair, has walked free from jail to the cheers of his supporters.

"Brilliant," the bulky, tattooed former guerrilla commander roared at a jubilant crowd of around 130 supporters outside Maghaberry prison near Belfast. "I should never have been in there in the first place."

Released in 1999 under the terms of the landmark 1998 Good Friday peace accord, Adair was jailed less than a year later after officials said he was still a danger to peace.

His release Wednesday, which comes at the end of his sentence, has stoked fears of further pressure on Northern Ireland's fragile peace process, already strained by fierce rioting in flashpoint districts of Belfast.

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But his close associate John White told UK's Press Association: "The nationalists have nothing to fear from Johnny Adair. He will be a force for good in this province. I believe he will make a positive contribution to the peace process."

Adair posed for pictures outside the jail but made no further comment.

A former commander of the fiercely pro-British Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), Adair was originally jailed for 16 years in 1995 for directing terrorism.

He had been caught on tape boasting to undercover police officers about his role in killing more than a dozen Catholic civilians.

But he was released early under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, which sought to bring peace to Northern Ireland after 30 years of sectarian conflict between unionists, who wish to maintain the union with Britain, and nationalists, who want to be part of a united Ireland.

A survivor of several murder attempts by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) -- reportedly including a 1993 bomb attack on a fish-and-chip shop in which 10 people died -- Adair is a folk hero among fellow unionists.

Along with other Protestant militias, the UFF -- whose foes in the IRA waged a bitter war to try to end British rule -- targeted members of Northern Ireland's Catholic minority.

Last May, assailants attacked him at an open-air concert which he was attending while on weekend temporary leave. A shot grazed his head, and he later blamed republican extremists.