British army bomb disposal experts have defused or dealt with the remnants of 38 pipe bombs in the North over the last four weeks. The attacks on mainly Catholic targets are occurring almost nightly.
The violence has intensified as political efforts continue between the two governments and the main pro-agreement parties to reach a crucial deal on policing, demilitarisation and decommissioning.
The attacks have also intensified in tandem with the recent split between pro- and anti-agreement wings of the Ulster Democratic Party, which is linked to the UDA.
The pipe bombs have been discovered in gardens, on cars, in hedgerows or inside school grounds. Terrified families have found devices on their kitchen or living room floors after being woken by the sound of breaking glass in the early hours. To date, miraculously, no one has been seriously injured or killed.
In one of the latest incidents, a pipe bomb was thrown through the window of a Catholic woman's car on Alliance Road in north Belfast on Wednesday. She held the device in her hand but it failed to explode. Members of staff at the nearby Mater Hospital were this week notified by the RUC that they are under a loyalist paramilitary threat.
Two crude devices also exploded outside homes just doors from each other in Loughside Drive in Ballynahinch, Co Down, in the early hours of Thursday.
Last year a total of about 50 blast bombs, including pipe bombs, were used in attacks in the North - highlighting the statistics so far this year as alarmingly high. Two crude under-car devices were also used in suspected loyalist attacks against Catholics last month.
Petrol bombs, paint bombs, or bricks or shots fired through windows were once the more commonly used methods of intimidation. RUC figures show there were just six petrol bomb attacks in January, confirming the transition to the deadly pipe bomb and raising speculation that the devices are being centrally manufactured in makeshift "bomb factories".
Veteran republican Mr Martin Meehan has no doubt the UDA is behind recent attacks despite the denial of loyalist representatives.
The north Belfast homes of his two sons were shot at during separate incidents over the last 10 days. On Thursday night a handgun was discovered in a garden near his own home after coded telephone warnings that pipe bombs had been left in the area.
"Their main motivation is to derail the peace process. They are trying to sabotage the political advancements that Sinn Fein has made and is going to make. The attacks are sectarian, no doubt, but they are more politically motivated and people at the top are pulling strings," he said.
The incident at the home of his second son on Monday came hours after a Protestant man was targeted nearby. Many feared it could signal another round of tit-for-tat incidents, all too familiar to residents of the interface areas of north Belfast.
However, Mr Meehan, who will contest the South Antrim constituency for Sinn Fein in the next Westminster elections, firmly asserts there will be no republican reprisals despite the recent experiences of Catholics in Derry, Coleraine, Larne, Ballymena and north Belfast.
"No way is there going to be a knee-jerk reaction from republicans. That would be a step backwards for us." However, Mr Meehan also predicts the attacks will intensify as loyalist elements are "loosening up for the big push". Meanwhile, the Meehan family have dispersed to secure accommodation fearing further attacks.
Mr David Ervine, of the pro-agreement Progressive Unionist Party, which is linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force, also recognises the recent attacks as a "last stand" by loyalist renegades attempting to entice republicans into retaliation.
According to Mr Ervine the attacks will cease when there is political progress. He said there were "plenty of suggestions" the violence was being centrally directed but there were now fewer "cheerleaders" for sectarianism than at any time over the last 30 years.
Commenting on reports that a member of the UDA questioned about the 1983 Greysteel massacre is suspected of orchestrating attacks, he said it was an example of the RUC "throwing down a marker" to the loyalist figure.
Ongoing sectarian tensions in Larne, Co Antrim, drew the initial media focus last month as two Catholic families suffered pipe bomb attacks. Attention subsequently shifted to Coleraine, Derry and surrounding areas, where there have been a total of 12 pipe bombings in four weeks.
This week the RUC in Coleraine launched an eight-point plan to combat sectarian attacks proposing more "stop and searches", increased covert operations and additional forensic analysis on items recovered. The RUC in Larne yesterday announced their own plan to counteract the attacks.