Police in Derry have linked loyalist paramilitaries to two sectarian attacks in the Waterside area of the city on Thursday night.
In one incident, two shots were fired at a man in his living-room at Milltown View, in the Tullyalley area. In the second attack, a 20-year-old Catholic and his 16-year-old Protestant girlfriend had a gun pointed at them when their car was surrounded by eight masked men.
Mr William Taggart, (24), told yesterday how he took cover as the shots were fired at him through the window of his home.
"At first I thought they were fire crackers but it soon dawned on me that someone was trying to murder me," he said.
"The police have told me that the gunman used a .38 calibre revolver. I just don't know why anyone would want to murder me. I have just recently returned home from England to live with my elderly parents.
"Thank goodness they were out at the time, particularly my father who is recovering from a heart-attack and from a stroke.
"It beggars belief why this has happened to me. I just can't understand why such hatred still exists in this day and age," he said.
A PSNI spokesman said they were treating the attack as attempted murder.
In the second attack a masked gang surrounded and attempted to drag the driver of a car and his woman passenger from the vehicle.
"The couple were intending to visit friends in Winchester Park when the masked gang smashed the car window with golf clubs," said Supt Dawson Cotton.
"They tried to pull the man and woman out of the car. As they did so they put a gun to the man's head, but fortunately they were able to drive away with only minor cut injuries.
"This young couple are a terrific example of how two people from different religious backgrounds can have a friendship. I just don't understand how people in our society feel threatened by such a friendship.
"It was cowardly, it was brutal and it was an obviously planned sectarian attack carried out by loyalist paramilitaries whose intent and whose actions stand in total contrast to to everything their intended victims represent," Supt Cotton said.