Sinn Fein has released a report giving details of more than 180 sectarian attacks by loyalists this year. The document is to be distributed to TDs, MPs and foreign political leaders. The party blamed the UDA for the attacks and said the paramilitary group's ceasefire was clearly over.
A Catholic man and his 12year-old daughter escaped injury in a pipe-bomb attack on their home in north Belfast on Tuesday night. Two men were seen running away. The man and his daughter were treated for shock. Sinn Fein chief whip Mr Alex Maskey said: "Yet another nationalist home has been attacked by loyalist pipe-bombers. Earlier, two lorries were hijacked and caused widespread chaos in north Belfast.
"This is further evidence that the UDA's campaign is continuing unabated. This year alone there have been more than 180 loyalist attacks against nationalists. The past two months has seen a sharp escalation in these attacks, particularly in Belfast."
Mr Maskey claimed the UDA, the largest loyalist paramilitary group, was responsible. "It is now widely accepted that these attacks are part of the UDA orchestrated pogrom against the nationalist community. They are a consequence of the political vacuum opened up by the British government's failure to safeguard the full implementation of the agreement."
"Sinn Fein has worked hard on the ground to defuse tension in nationalist areas and to reach out to unionists and loyalists. We have initiated a series of contacts with political representatives, clergy, community organisations, trade unions and others, aimed at pressurising the UDA into ending its campaign."
To date, unionist leaders "are failing to face up to their responsibilities in bringing an end to such attacks". Mr Maskey said his party's dossier on loyalist attacks showed recent violence had not been "tit-for-tat" as sections of the media claimed.
Since July, loyalists had killed two people, Mr Ciaran Cummings and Mr Gavin Brett.