Nationalists have been warned to be vigilant following a series of loyalist attacks across the North. Sinn Fein and the SDLP have expressed concern about the incidents.
Two pipe-bombs exploded in a car outside a GAA club in Armoy, Co Antrim, yesterday. The vehicle was left at the club on the Glenshesk Road. It was examined by British army bomb disposal experts, who confirmed that the devices had exploded.
A separate security alert at a GAA club in Ballycastle, Co Antrim, was declared a hoax.
A local Sinn Fein councillor, Ms Monica Digney, said: "Loyalists throughout the Six Counties have been increasing their attacks against nationalists over the past number of weeks. This has been particularly evident in north Antrim, where loyalists are using every opportunity to heighten tension."
Ms Madeline Black, a local SDLP councillor, said it was "disgraceful" that GAA clubs, which provided facilities for sporting activities and socialising, should be targeted in this way. She added: "This type of incident only serves to heighten anxiety and fear."
A man escaped injury yesterday when a pipe-bomb exploded outside a house in Co Derry. The device went off after being thrown on to a grassy area by a man who found it.
The RUC has said that a petrol-bomb attack on the home of a Catholic family in Armagh on Sunday night was sectarian. No one was injured in the attack, but scorch damage was caused to the house in Rosemount Park.
RUC officers investigating the incident found another petrol-bomb abandoned nearby.
Supt Bob Moore said that the attack could have caused death or serious injury. "The people who carried it out have nothing to offer society", he said. "They must be made to face the full rigour of the law. We cannot allow this type of behaviour to happen."