There have been more pipebomb attacks in the North, bringing to 129 the total number of bomb attacks this year.
In Co Antrim, Ballycastle town centre was sealed off for a second successive day after pipe-bombs were discovered at two premises.
Meanwhile, a family of six, including an autistic child, escaped injury after their home in Ballynahinch, Co Down, was attacked.
Two devices exploded at the rear and the front of the house in Loughside Drive shortly after 2.45 a.m. The bombers had tried to gain entry to the house.
The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used by the UDA and LVF, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Catholic owner of the house described what happened: "The first blast went off and the oldest girl ran down and I shouted, `Don't go down the stairs, there is someone trying to get in the door,' and then the next blast went off at the door."
"There was someone trying to get in, turning the handle of the door," he added.
The man, whose car was destroyed in an arson attack four months ago, blamed loyalists for the attack. "It's the UDA who are doing the bombs here, they're doing everything everywhere at the moment," he claimed.
Asked if he knew the identities of the individual bombers, he said: "You don't have to be a magician to work it out."
The man, who did not wish to be identified, said there had been a number of sectarian attacks in the predominantly Catholic council estate over recent months. "The next-door neighbour got a pipe-bomb, and two doors up got a pipe-bomb. Cars have been burnt at the lower end of the estate and there were two incendiaries near the private houses five or six weeks ago."
However, he did not believe that the bombers had much support. "Most of the people, even those who are fairly strong [loyalist supporters], don't want anything to do with it," he said.
The man said he was reluctant to move from the estate. "The problem is the wee fellow is autistic and he doesn't like his routine upset."
The man did not understand why his family had been targeted. "What is their agenda? Do they not want any Catholics in Ballynahinch? Do they want us all to move out and then they can terrorise their own people the way they have terrorised the nationalist people?"
Local SDLP councillor Mr Patsy Toman, whose house was bombed in 1993, condemned the attack. "Ballynahinch is having more than its fair share of these sectarian attacks and sooner or later there will be a fatality," he said.
In Ballycastle, pipe-bombs were defused at the Marine Hotel in North Street and at Boyd's bar in The Diamond. RUC District Commander Supt John Bustard said the bombs were intended to kill.
"The public should be under no illusion as to the reckless and indiscriminate nature of these attacks as the devices were concealed in such a way as to make their detection extremely difficult," he said.
On Tuesday, during the town's annual Lammas Fair, a large incendiary device left in a car was made safe by the British army.
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