Loyalist paramilitaries in Belfast were today challenged to reveal any information they have about a series of attacks in the south of the city which have driven Protestants from their homes.
Democratic Unionist councillor ms Ruth Patterson called on loyalist leaders to comment on the latest attack on a pensioner's house in the loyalist Donegall Pass area in the early hours of yesterday and other incidents which have forced other families to flee.
A double-glazed front window and the glass door of the woman's home in Erin Way were damaged during the attack which occurred around 12.45 a.m.
The woman, whom councillor Patterson said had already been warned that an attack was imminent, was not in the house at the time. Following the latest incident, she packed up her remaining belongings and left the area.
Councillor Patterson, who chairs Belfast's District Policing Partnership, said the incident and other attacks in the area were appalling.
"The woman has been forced to leave her home which is heartbreaking," the DUP councillor said. "She had been warned about the possibility of an attack and that she should get out and yesterday she took the remaining belongings such as her TV and clothes away.
"There did not seem to be any stones or rocks but we think the door and window must have been battered with a baseball bat.
"These and other incidents in the area raise a number of questions. If this and other homes have been attacked by someone in the local community, why?
"Why has a pensioner been targeted in this case? "And are loyalist paramilitaries going to comment on what they know about what has been happening in Donegall Pass?"
The PSNI confirmed its officers had received a report of criminal damage on a vacant house in Erin Way.