A petrol bomb attack that set a row of homes on fire in Belfast last night was an attempt to murder pensioners as they slept, it was claimed today.
Two houses in the nationalist Short Strand area of Belfast were seriously damaged by fire in the attack. The devices were thrown from across an interface on the loyalist lower Newtownards Road.
Local residents said the bungalows, some of which are occupied by pensioners, were stoned by Loyalists following Orange Order parades on July 12th.
Short Strand Sinn Féin councillor Mr Joe O'Donnell, who spent the night at the scene, said the attack was a carefully planned bid to kill residents.
He said: "The people of this community have no doubt, and I have no doubt, this was a premeditated attempt to murder pensioners in their beds."
Mr O'Donnell said the bombing followed several attacks on Short Strand residents during the rioting that flared across Northern Ireland last Thursday as violence marred the Orange Order's Twelfth celebrations.
"Loyalists had said then: 'We'll be back to burn your pensioners out’," he claimed. "The people responsible for this are sick-minded savages, there's no other word for it, for someone who would sit and think about this."
A man has been arrested in connection with the incidents.
Additional reporting by PA
