The US today condemned violence against Catholic schoolgirls in Northern Ireland and asked political leaders to denounce it publicly.
The US diplomat who deals with the Northern conflict, Mr Richard Haass, will go to Britain and Ireland next week for a visit planned some time ago, a US officials added.
State Department spokesman Mr Richard Boucher said: "We're deeply disturbed by these reports that there's been increasing violence in Belfast. We find this all despicable.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the threats against the young girls and their families by paramilitaries and call on all sides to show restraint during this time and ask that the party leaders publicly denounce the violence."
"We also call on those leaders to demonstrate their continued commitment to the peace process in both words and actions," he added.