Home targeted in gun attack

Interface view: Violence is escalating in peaceline area

A number of men have been arrested after shots were fired at a house in north Belfast on Thursday night.

The Christies and their four grandchildren were downstairs when the shots were fired by gunmen in a car, at their house in the predominantly Catholic Alliance Avenue at about 2230 BST.

Nobody was injured.

The car used in the attack was later found burned out in nearby playing fields.

William Christie: "I will not leave my home for anybody"

William Christie said: "Apparently there is a death threat on this house and I think it is on me.

"The police have said they have warned us, but they have not."

He added: "I have been in this area since 1938 and I'm not going to move for anyone."

John White, chairman of the Ulster Democratic Party, which is linked to the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association, said there was a need for leadership to curb the escalation in sectarian attacks in north Belfast.

'Community control'

"I would like to see both sections of the community on both sides of the interface trying to gain control within their own communities and stop the attacks that are occurring," he said.

"We have residents moving into the Ardoyne area to a new housing development and I think some of the incidents are occurring because of people moving into the area," he added.

Sinn Fein blamed the UDA for the shooting and called on Catholics to be vigilant.

The party's north Belfast representative, Margaret McClenaghan, said: "I can't see that the UDP is going to control any part of any organisation that they belong to.

'Death squads'

"They keep insisting in their statements that they still have a peace process behind them. But they most certainly don't.

"The history of this area tells people that the loyalist death squads are coming in and saying: to hell with the peace process."

SDLP assembly member for north Belfast, Alban Maginness, said the attack was "very worrying".

It was the 18th paramilitary shooting in north Belfast this year.

During follow-up searches on Friday morning, the police recovered a pipe bomb and weapons in the Glenbryn area.