Fears were mounting today over an escalating loyalist feud following a second bomb attack in east Belfast in 24 hours.
A blast bomb exploded outside a house in the Ballyhackamore area shattering windows in a number of houses.
No one was injured in the explosion at Evelyn Avenue and a second device was later found and made safe by army bomb experts.
The overnight explosion came after an early hours bombing in the same area in which two houses were damaged and a 70-year-old man treated for shock.
Police confirmed they were examining possible links between the two bombings, which followed the murder of a man in east Belfast earlier in the week.
The bombings and the murder have been blamed on the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force as part of a developing feud with the Loyalist Volunteer Force.
The bombings have been condemned by Ulster Secretary Paul Murphy as senseless acts of violence.