A loyalist group seen as a cover for the Ulster Defence Association has admitted to today’s attack on a north Belfast community centre which is used by a children's playgroup.
The Red Hand Defenders also warned: "Our campaign will escalate and we consider all nationalist people as hostile and legitimate targets."
The shooting happened at 9.30 a.m. on Churchill street off the Antrim road. Children and staff narrowly escaped injury and some people treated for shock.
In a telephoned statement to a Belfast newsroom, accompanied by a recognised code-word, the group claimed the target of today's shooting at the Ashton Centre, was a former republican prisoner who worked there.
It is feared the statement will further escalate tensions already heightened by violent clashes at sectarian flashpoints in north Belfast over the past week.
This morning’s attack has prompted demands for the UDA and its sub-organisation the Ulster Freedom Fighters to confirm their ceasefire was over.
Nationalist politicians immediately blamed the UDA for the attack. SDLP councillor, Mr Martin Morgan, said it was part of a UDA campaign to stoke up sectarian tensions in the area.
He said: "In the face of these attacks, the Ulster Democratic Party and the UDA need to be upfront and declare their hand about the ceasefire.
But UDP chairman Mr John White insisted it was wrong to blame them. He said the UDA said last week the ceasefire was intact and that it would be "silly of them to be involved in a complete contradiction."
The Ashton Community Trust, which runs the centre, claimed the shooting was an attempt to fuel sectarian tension in the area and it called on political and community leaders to take immediate action to prevent further attacks.
Also blaming the UDA, Sinn Fein Assembly member Mr Gerry Kelly said: "The lower Shankill UDA have been involved in a number of attacks and it is plain to see their ceasefire has long since gone."
Democratic Unionist MP for North Belfast Mr Nigel Dodds, along with Stormont ministers Mr Seamus Mallon and Sir Reg Empey, the public service union Unison, the Workers Party, Ulster Unionists and loyalist Progressive Unionists all condemned the attack, particularly as children could have been injured.
- Meanwhile a third coffee jar bomb was defused at the scene of sectarian clashes earlier this week.
The device was found on waste ground between Serpentine Gardens and Gunnell Hill in Belfast an interface three miles north of today's shooting.A similar bomb exploded and another was made safe in the same area yesterday after crowd trouble the night before.
- In Co Down a blast bomb attack on a RUC station in Castlewellan was today being blamed on dissident republicans. No one was injured and minor damage was caused to the base.