Loyalist paramilitaries behind a double pipe bomb attack in a Co Antrim village planned to kill, police said today.
A device exploded after being thrown at a house in Cloughmills early this morning, showering a living room with glass. Less than an hour before the attack at Cypress Park, another bomb detonated under a van parked in nearby Rosemount.
No one was injured, but detectives, who believe the attacks were linked, blamed terrorists waging a sectarian campaign against Catholics for the violence.
Sinn Féin's north Antrim councillor, Daithi McKay, said both families targeted by the pipe bombers today were attacked before.
"They are adamant that they are not going anywhere," he said. "They have lived there all their lives and are not going to be intimidated or forced out of the village by a group of thugs."
Sinn Féin claimed six families had also been ordered out of Ahoghill, another nearby village.
Sectarian tensions have heightened across north Antrim during the summer, with Catholic churches and pubs coming under attack.
A republican internment commemoration parade due to be held tomorrow night in Ballymena, a strongly Protestant town, has fuelled further resentment.