Loyalist paramilitaries have admitted responsibility for a gun attack on a community centre in north Belfast and warned it will escalate its campaign and view nationalists as "hostile and legitimate targets".
The Red Hand Defenders, which has been used as a covername for both the UDA and the Loyalist Volunteer Force, said it carried out the shooting at the Ashton Centre in the New Lodge area.
In a telephone call to a Belfast newsroom, it claimed the target was a former republican prisoner who worked in the centre. "Our campaign will escalate and we consider all nationalist people as hostile and legitimate targets." Nationalist politicians have blamed the UDA, and want it to confirm its ceasefire is over.
The shooting was condemned by the area's DUP MP, Mr Nigel Dodds, who said it would have a traumatic effect on children caught up in the incident.
In a joint statement, the former Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, and the Ulster Unionist Economy Minister, Sir Reg Empey, appealed to "all those with any shred of decency to help the authorities root out the extreme elements behind all recent disturbances".
No one was injured but several people attending a children's summer scheme inside were treated for shock. The gunmen entered a yard at the back of the centre in Churchill Street. They fired around eight shots at two men who were outside and then opened fire on the building.
The chairman of a community forum in the centre, Mr Jim Deerey, said people inside were lucky to be alive. "The gunmen fired into an after-schools' project where there were children. It's a miracle nobody was killed."
SDLP councillor Mr Martin Morgan said the UDA should admit its ceasefire is over.
Sinn Fein Assembly member, Mr Gerry Kelly, said: "The lower Shankill UDA has been involved in several attacks. It is obvious its ceasefire is long over." However, the UDP chairman, Mr John White, said it was wrong to blame the UDA. He pointed to its statement that its ceasefire was intact.
Meanwhile, dissident republicans have been blamed for an attack on an RUC station in Castlewellan, Co Down. A blast bomb was thrown and shots were fired at the base on Thursday night. Nobody was inside.
The RUC was investigating an explosion in north Belfast last night. It occurred at Westland Gardens, Ardoyne, shortly after 11 p.m. There were no injuries.