Two bombings in east Belfast at the weekend are being linked to the renewed UVF-LVF loyalist paramilitary feud and last week's murder of Loyalist Volunteer Force member, Mr Brian Stewart, in east Belfast.
No one was seriously injured in the attacks although an elderly man was treated in hospital for shock. A loyalist who was the intended target of the first of the bombings said it was it "by the grace of God" that he and his 16-year-old son were not killed.
Nationalist and unionist politicians have offered to mediate in the feud but so far there appears to be little prospect of both sides standing back from further violence.
Senior loyalists such as Mr David Ervine and former Assembly member Mr Billy Hutchinson of the Progressive Unionist Party, which is linked to the UVF, have been warned by police that their lives are in danger.
The bombings and last Tuesday's murder of Mr Stewart, who is to be buried today, are being blamed on the UVF.
The first device exploded in the early hours of Saturday morning at Bloomfield Court in the Beersbridge Road area of east Belfast.
The targeted house and a house adjoining were damaged in the blast.
Windows in the two houses were shattered and the two front doors were left hanging off their hinges. A 70-year-old neighbour of the intended victim suffered shock.
The loyalist target, who did not wish to give his name, said that in normal circumstances he and his son would have been in the house at the time of the explosion but "by the grace of God" had changed their movements. He was certain that the UVF tried to kill him.
Police described the bomb as a "substantial device".
The second device, a blast bomb, exploded relatively close by in Evelyn Avenue early yesterday morning, shattering windows in a number of houses. Another device, which failed to explode, was made safe by British army bomb disposal experts.
Mr Michael Copeland, local Ulster Unionist MLA, condemned the attack but said he was willing to mediate between the UVF and LVF. It was beyond justification the damage inflicted on innocent people by such attacks.
The SDLP lord mayor of Belfast, Mr Martin Morgan, said the attacks seemed to be a sinister development in the loyalist dispute.
Also offering to mediate, he said: "Bitter experience tells us that when an outbreak occurs, it affects not just the loyalist community or the wider unionist community, but our whole society."
The bombings were also condemned as "senseless acts of violence", by the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy.
Ms Naomi Long, the Alliance MLA for east Belfast, demanded a meeting with the security minister, Mr Ian Pearson, to discuss the deteriorating situation.
