LOYALIST paramilitaries are intent on provoking a return to sectarian violence following a car bomb attack in Belfast at the weekend, sources close to the INLA have said.
Two men, one a former INLA prisoner, escaped injury when a device exploded under their car in Claremont Street in south Belfast on Saturday afternoon.
The pair leapt from the car when the detonator partially exploded. The car careered into a wall, the rest of the device exploded and the vehicle burst into flames.
The men sustained minor injuries, as did a passerby. The three were taken to hospital but later released. Mr Kevin McQuillan, of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the INLA's political wing, condemned the attack.
Neither of the men in the car was "connected with the republican socialist movement", he said. The targeting showed the poor quality of loyalist paramilitary information, he added. Mr McQuillan said the UVF was responsible and that the Combined Loyalist Military Command had sanctioned the attack.
The RUC Chief Constable Mr Ronnie Flanagan, believed the attack was carried out by loyalists. A Sinn Fein councillor, Mr Alex Maskey, said the loyalist ceasefire was a sham and accused the British government of operating double standards by excluding Sinn Fein from talks while admitting the fringe loyalist parties.