The Red Hand Defenders have admitted responsibility for a pipe bomb attack on the home of a Catholic family on the peace-line in Ardoyne, north Belfast. The device was thrown at the house in Rosapenna Street yesterday while three children played inside.
In a statement the dissident loyalist group said its members threw the device over the peace-line. Twenty homes were evacuated while the British army defused the bomb.
A Progressive Unionist Party Assembly member, Mr Billy Hutchinson, urged loyalists to shun the Red Hand Defenders. "Acts like this will not secure the Union," he said.
Mr Michael McGimpsey, an Ulster Unionist Assembly member, said: "It is hard to think of a softer target than children. The people who carry out these cowardly acts are deliberately trying to provoke republican paramilitaries into action."
A Sinn Fein Assembly member, Mr Gerry Kelly, said: "This is the latest in an ongoing campaign by loyalist murder gangs and represents the ever-present reality of violence directed against nationalists." The Workers' Party's spokesman, Mr Paul Trainor, accused loyalists of trying to kill as many people as possible.
The Dungannon priest, Mgr Denis Faul, has said those responsible for a "punishment" attack on a 16-year-old boy in Newry, Co Down, have no compassion in their hearts.
The teenager suffered a broken ankle and wrist after seven masked and armed men broke into his home in Altnaveigh Park on Monday night. He was ordered to leave Northern Ireland. It was claimed that the Provisional IRA was responsible.
The RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, has said that there were 40 "punishment' attacks last month - 29 beatings and 11 shootings. Loyalists were responsible for 23 and republicans for 17 of these.
Sinn Fein has asked for all the bridges demolished by the British army during the Troubles to be rebuilt. A party spokeswoman said the bridges were essential for the economic and social regeneration of the Border region.