FRI. SEPTEMBER 1, 2000: The RUC and British army separated rival factions on the loyalist Shankill Road in west Belfast after a stand-off had developed when a number of men started to erect flags.
SAT. SEPTEMBER 2, 2000: A firebomb attack on a house was linked to a violent feud between loyalist paramilitaries. The firebomb exploded in the garden of a house belonging to a Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) member in Belfast
The Orange Order presence at the UVF parade in memory of UVF man Brian Robinson sparked outrage among nationalists. Robinson was killed by the British Army in 1989 as he was returning to the Shankill from shooting dead Catholic man Brian McKenna in Ardoyne. A spokesman for the Order in Belfast denied that the organisation had outlawed membership of paramilitary organisations, adding that he had "no particular problem" with the Orange Order’s participation in the parade.
A County Derry family escaped injury in a pipe bomb attack. The explosive device was thrown at their home in Coleraine last night. The RUC, who were responding to a report that a shot had been fired at the house, found the remains of the bomb in the front garden.
The attack appeared to be linked to a feud between loyalist paramilitary groupings.
SUN. SEPTEMBER 3, 2000: In what is thought to be another incident in the loyalist feud a house in Carrickfergus, Antrim was targeted in a gun attack early. No one was injured. A masked man carrying a shotgun forced his way into the house at Thorndale Square and confronted a woman in an upstairs bedroom. A man who was in the house escaped through the back door. The gunman fired shots through the living room window as he left.
TUES. SEPTEMBER 5, 2000: In another incident in the loyalist feud an incendiary bomb sent off at a block of flats in Harland Walk, off the Newtownards Road in Belfast. An 80-year-old pensioner was one of three residents rescued from the blazing three-storey building.
FRI. SEPTEMBER 8, 2000: Nicola Dunwoody, the wife of a former UVF prisoner and her five-month-old son escaped injury when a loyalist mob, believed to be from the UDA/UFF smashed up their home. Other houses in the Shankill and Crumlin areas of Belfast were also targeted in a series of tit-for-tat attacks.
SAT. SEPTEMBER 9, 2000: At 4.30am people living in Rutland Street which runs off the Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast were awakened by the sound of breaking glass as loyalists tried to pour petrol through the letter box of the home of a young couple and their three children to set a fire. When they failed they smashed windows of the randomly-selected house and threw coke bottles full of petrol at the front window. One of the bombs exploded and burned a lace curtain.
The house of their neighbour Cathy Magee was also targeted. She said that she heard the glass breaking and when she ran out to the street she saw the smoke billowing up from the front door of her neighbour’s house. She said her own house had its front window smashed but there was no evidence that the loyalists intended fire bombing her home. As she spoke, her voice trailed off as she contemplated the danger she and her children aged, nine, six and 18 months had been in.
The three attackers made their escape in a maroon Ford Mondeo, driving towards the Annadale Embankment and its flats complex, a notorious UDA area.
Johnny White, of the Ulster Democratic Party which speaks for the UDA/UFF death squads claimed men belonging to the Ulster Volunteer Force attempted to ram a car being driven by Gina Adair, wife of loyalist Johnny Adair as she collected her children from school. He also claimed there was a bid at the same time to stab Agnes Coulter, the widow of one of three men shot dead in the bitter feud, and in a separate attack one man needed hospital treatment after being beaten by a gang carrying baseball bats.
A firebomb was found in a soft furnishing store in Armagh. Later another was found at Millets camping shop in Belfast.
SUN. SEPTEMBER 10, 2000: Incendiary devices were found in clothing shops at Scotch Street, Dungannon and William Street, Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
TUES. SEPTEMBER 12, 2000: A blast bomb was thrown at the Rex Bar in the lower Shankill area. No one was injured in the attack at the bar which is frequented by UVF supporters. Eye-witnesses said two men made off in a car after the incident. The area around the bar was cordoned off as Crown Forces carried out a follow-up operation.
A house in Danube Street in the Shankill area was attacked. A woman and a two-week-old baby was in the house when windows were smashed by a crowd of 50-60 people. The owners of the house blamed the UVF for the attack.
One British soldier was treated for shock after a mortar bomb attack on the Magilligan British Army base in Derry. An 80lb bomb partially exploded when he opened the door to a hut on the base’s training ground. A second device was later defused.
A pipe-bomb exploded in the front garden of a house in Hartford Park in the Ballysally estate in Coleraine, Co Derry. No damage was caused and no one was injured in the blast.
WED. SEPTEMBER 13, 2000: A mortar bomb was launched at the Newry Road RUC barracks in Armagh. Slight damage was caused to the base when the device was fired from a white van parked on a building site of a new hotel beside the barracks. It exploded just inside the perimeter fence.
The UDA/UFF was believed to be responsible for throwing a nail bomb at a taxi premises in Joanmount Gardens in the Oldpark area of Belfast.
THURS. SEPTEMBER 14, 2000: The British Northern Ireland Housing Executive said that it had rehoused 165 families who have been intimidated out of the Shankill Road and lower Oldpark areas of Belfast because of the continuing loyalist feud.
SUN. SEPTEMBER 17, 2000: In a search by the RUC in the Shankill area of Belfast an improvised explosive device which was discovered on waste ground at Boundary Way. A number of homes were evacuated as British army bomb disposal experts dealt with the device.
MON. SEPTEMBER 18, 2000: The RUC discovered a tail fin for a mortar bomb, component parts for pipe bombs, balaclavas and combat clothing during a search of the Ulster Democratic Party offices on the Shankill Road. The West Belfast offices were the subject of bomb attack overnight. The premises, which were also used as a drop-in centre for ex-prisoners from the UDA and UFF, was completely destroyed in the blast which took place just before 2am. No one was injured in the blast. The UDP, which is linked to the UDA, has blamed the Ulster Volunteer Force for the attack.
Four people were injured in an explosion in a blue Ford Transit van in High Street, Bangor, Co Down. All four victims were taken to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald. Sandy Rice (in his 40s), from Bangor, Co Down who was driving the van received massive lower-body injuries. The other three men were suffering from minor cuts and shock.
Patrick McGlinchey (32), Lisnafin Park, Strabane, Co Tyrone was refused bail at the High Court in Belfast. He was charged with allowing his flat to be used to hold a kidnapped bank official and his wife.
WED. SEPTEMBER 20, 2000: The headquarters of the British intelligence service MI6 was hit by a missile. No one was injured. Amin Khan (32), a supporter of the Progressive Unionist Party who are spokespeople for the UVF loyalist death squad, was shot twice when gunmen opened fire on him as he was making a fast food delivery in Tynedale Gardens in Belfast. The UDA/UFF death squad were blamed for the attack.
THURS. SEPTEMBER 21, 2000: The Reverend Ian Paisley’s anti-Stormont Agreement Democratic Unionist Party won the South Antrim parliamentary by-election in the Six Counties. Successful candidate Reverend William McCrea received 11,601 votes, nearly 38% of the poll. The votes for the other candidates were as follows: David Burnside (UUP) 10,779; David Collins (Natural Law) 49; David Ford (Alliance) 2,031; Donovan McClelland (SDLP) 3,496 and Martin Meehan (Provisional) 2,611.
Two nationalist brothers were targeted by a loyalist death squad gunmen as they worked in their garage in Bryson Street, in the Short Strand area of Belfast. A number of shots were fired at them but they escaped injury.
In another incident in the loyalist feud, an explosive device was pushed through the letter-box of a 71-year-old woman at Bleach Hall Avenue in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim. A similar bomb was found at the north Belfast home of a young family.
SAT. SEPTEMBER 23, 2000: Nationalist soccer teams were once again driven off Suffolk playing pitches last Saturday, as loyalists littered the playing surfaces with broken glass and nails. All games, both senior and junior involving school children, were cancelled after it was discovered that nails and broken bottles were strewn across the pitch and threatening graffiti had been painted at the entrance to the park.
Seán Connolly, Bluebell, Dublin and Edward Heeney of Drogheda, Co Louth were charged at the Special Court in Dublin with possession of firearms. They were remanded in custody to Portlaoise jail until October 10.
SUN. SEPTEMBER 24, 2000: Leading loyalist Stephen McKeag was found dead at his home at Florence Court in the Shankill area of Belfast. He had been associated with the UDA/UFF.
MON. SEPTEMBER 25, 2000: A bus containing 40 nationalist schoolchildren from St Paul’s Secondary School in Camloch, Co Armagh escaped injury after two bullets smashed windows near the village of Meigh, south of Newry.
TUES. SEPTEMBER 26, 2000: A 50lb bomb partially exploded on the main Dublin-Belfast railway line at Dunmurry, Co Antrim. Damage was slight.
THURS. SEPTEMBER 28, 2000: Paul Baker, a nine-year-old nationalist was shot in the back in a pellet gun attack by two men driving a white Vauxhall car, which sped off in the direction of the loyalist Tiger’s Bay area of Belfast.
FRI. SEPTEMBER 29, 2000: Patrick Quinn (32), from Ardboe, Co Tyrone was shot dead in the Depot Bar on Union Street in Magherafelt, Co Derry.
THURS. SEPTEMBER 30, 2000:
A nationalist man received injuries to his head when he
was attacked at the junction of Lanark Way and Workman Avenue in west Belfast
by a group of youths as he was went to collect his children from school.
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