Co Down petrol and pipe bomb attacks may be linked to loyalist paramilitary fall out

Four attacks on properties in North Down over 48 hours are being linked to a fall-out between loyalist paramilitaries.

UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt told UTV he believed the UDA was responsible, and there had been a split in the organisation.

Police are investigating a potential link between the attacks in Newtownards and Bangor.

In the latest incident, a man, aged in his 60s, was injured after a house on Moyne Gardens in Newtownards was attacked on Sunday night.

A police spokesman said at around 10pm it was reported that a brick was thrown through a front window of a property, before two petrol bombs were also thrown into the property, which caused fire damage to the window ledge, roof and floor.

Bricks were also thrown through an upstairs window and a kitchen window, and damage was caused to a car parked outside the house.

On Saturday there was a petrol bomb attack at a house on Dicksonia Drive in Newtownards.

Police said at around 10.15pm they received a report and attended the scene along with firefighters, who extinguished a blaze.

They said a number of windows were broken and extensive damage was caused to the front of the property, but no one was inside at the time.

It is being treated as arson with intent to endanger life.

Earlier that evening the front window of a house on the Bowtown Road was smashed in a pipe bomb blast.

UTV understands four children were inside the family home at the time, but no-one was injured.

There was also a report of a petrol bomb attack on a house on Skipperstone Road in Bangor in the early hours of Saturday.

Police said three people were inside the house at the time, but they were not injured. A number of windows were broken and scorch damage were caused to the property.

Police are investigating the incident as arson with intent to endanger life.

Strangford MLA and Policing Board member Mike Nesbitt says many of the recent attacks could be linked to a 'fall-out' among loyalists.

"It appears that there has been a falling-out within this terrorist-organised crime gang, and the concern is that of course it will escalate and if it escalates will innocent people suffer," he said.

Anyone with information around any of the attacks is asked to contact police on 101.

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