Appeal for end to violence

Violence flared in the Short Strand/lower Newtownards Road area

A Catholic bishop has called on Northern Ireland's politicians and community leaders to jointly condemn the recent sectarian violence.

Bishop of Down and Connor Dr Patrick Walsh made the appeal after saying Mass at St Matthew's Church in the Short Strand area of east Belfast.

St Matthew's Church sits on the interface between the nationalist Short Strand and the loyalist lower Newtownards Road, an area that has been the scene of street violence and sectarian attacks in recent weeks.

Bishop Walsh said the people of Belfast dreaded the month of July and he urged politicians to show courage.

Bishop Patrick Walsh: Appeal for clear message from politicians

He said: "I know there are political differences and of course everybody respects differences as part of democracy, but there must be certain issues that everybody is united on - the whole question of confrontation on the streets, violence and young people being involved.

"If elected representatives could be seen, not just separately, but together, speaking with one voice on something which everybody abhors, I think that would give out a very powerful message."

Weekend violence

Bishop Walsh was speaking after a weekend of isolated pipe bomb attacks on the homes of Catholic families in Belfast and Coleraine and a Catholic church in County Tyrone.

Tensions throughout Northern Ireland raised by the loyalist marching season and disputes at loyalist/nationalist community interfaces in Belfast have spilled over into violence in many areas.

But as relative calm returned to the streets of north and east Belfast, a spate of pipe bomb and petrol bomb attacks continued around the province.

Loyalists were blamed for a pipe bomb attack on the home of a Catholic family in Coleraine, County Londonderry, early on Sunday morning.

The army defused the device after it was found by a Kylemore Road householder on her doorstep at about 0930 BST on Sunday.

The woman, another adult and three children in the house at the time of the attack escaped injury.

The police said the fuse on the device had been lit, but had burned itself out and did not explode.

Pipe bomb explodes at church

Meanwhile, in County Tyrone the police said a pipe bomb attack on a Catholic church in Newtownstewart was also sectarian.

The device exploded outside Glennock church on the Plumbridge Road at 1100 BST on Sunday.

No-one was injured in the attack, but a window in the church was damaged.

In west Belfast two petrol bombs were thrown from the loyalist side of the peaceline into Cupar Street in the Springfield Road area.

The devices landed on waste ground and did not cause any damage.

In another incident on Friday night, loyalists threw a pipe bomb into the house of a Catholic family living off the Cavehill Road in north Belfast for the second time this week.

Earlier on Friday, loyalist gunmen had fired shots at two men standing outside the Ashton community centre in north Belfast before continuing to fire into a room containing young children.

No-one was injured in the attack, but five people were treated for shock.