The Provisional IRA and the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force were tonight accused by a senior Police Service of Northern Ireland officer of orchestrating the continuing sectarian violence in east Belfast.
The Assistant Chief Constable Mr Alan McQuillan said: "It is quite clear to us that this is, on both sides, being orchestrated by paramilitary groups.
"On the republican side, it is being orchestrated by the Provisional IRA, and on the unionist side it is quite clearly being orchestrated by the UVF, and we have no doubt about any of that."
He said during violence in the area last night, in which 16 soldiers were injured, his officers saw senior members of the Provisional IRA on the ground. "We know who is organising this."
Mr McQuillan said he was not suggesting the two groups were responsible for everything, but they were the main instigators and organisers of violence which has continued now for months.
He said he would not be drawn on the political implications of his comments.
The Government is certain to come under fresh pressure from unionist politicians following the comments. They have long claimed the IRA has breached its cease-fire and that Sinn Fein should be thrown out of government at Stormont.
Tomorrow senior members of the Ulster Unionist party are meeting in County Fermanagh, and one of the key topics of conversation will be whether the party should remain in government with Sinn Féin.
Mr McQuillan held out little hope of the nightly cycles of violence stopping. He said: "My intelligence suggests, and all the information available to me suggests, it is not going to get any better - that there is a desire within paramilitary organisations on both sides to continue this fight."
He said only a political solution could resolve the impasse, and his officers, supported by the Army, could only try to form a barrier in the middle to keep the factions apart.
He appealed to politicians and community representatives in the area to act to solve the deepening crisis.
"The people in this area need a break. On both sides their lives are being made a misery. We are trying to do everything we can, but we need co-operation. "When we put police officers in the middle to try to stop the violence from both sides, if those officers, and soldiers, are attacked by either community, it makes their job much more difficult."
He said he didn't know whether there was an underling political agenda behind the trouble. "I find it difficult to see what they hope to achieve from this on either side."
He said he was putting double the number of officers on the streets that he started off with yesterday and appealed to community representatives to ensure they were able to provide a barrier between the two.