Loyalists responsible for pipe-bomb attack

A pro-British loyalist death squad has claimed responsibility for a recent bomb attack in west Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The bombs exploded in the St.James's area of west Belfast. One consisted of a pipe-bomb attached to a drum of petrol. The bomb exploded but the petrol drum did not ignote. The attack was targeted against a senior member of the Provisional IRA. A loyalist dissident group calling itself the Real UFF has claimed responsibility.

There have been a number of recent bomb and gun attacks in Northern Ireland, most of them attributed to small dissident republican groups who are opposed to the IRA's ceasefire.

During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, loyalist militant groups carried out random attacks on Catholic and Nationalist civilian targets. They rarely targeted IRA members.