Loyalists blamed for gun attack

Loyalist paramilitaries were today blamed for a gun attack on a house in Derry which left a woman showered with glass.

Police said they were treating the shooting at Bonds Street in the Waterside area of the city as attempted murder.

The woman was sitting in the living room of her house in the Bonds Street area of the city shortly before 11pm last night when four shots smashed through the window.

Her seven-year-old daughter was upstairs in bed at the time of the attack.

No-one was injured but the woman was badly shocked and shaken by the incident.

According to sources she moved into the area a few months ago from Belfast.

A number of items have been taken away for forensic examination and police said they were still investigating a motive for the shooting.

A police inspector investigating the incident said he believed it was paramilitary related.

“We are treating it as attempted murder,” he added.

DUP Assembly member for the area William Hay said it was the second attack in the area in recent months.

He said a pipe bomb was left in the backyard of another house in the same street three to four months ago.

“People are asking the question are these two incidents linked. I totally condemn this attack. We could have a fatality on our hands today,” he said.