By Deirdre Feehan

The two loyalist gunmen who tried to kill a Catholic taxi driver in Belfast in the early hours of Wednesday morning, 14 July, were only foiled because their gun jammed.

The men claimed to be members of the UFF and attempted to kill the driver in the Dundonald area after he picked them up in Bradbury Place.

``Both men sat in the back'', the driver, who did not wish to be named, told An Phoblacht. ``When they got inside the car both men began to talk about the Twelfth, what bands they were in and what bonfires they had been at; this was an obvious attempt to let me know that they were loyalists.

``When they arrived at a remote, country area, the pair ordered the driver to stop the car, but when he looked in his mirror he saw that both men had pulled on balaclavas and one was holding a gun.

``They began shouting `You're a fenian aren't you? We're from the UFF and we're going to do you.'

``The gunman then got out of the car and came round to the driver's door, opened it and took my wallet containing £120 as well as ID, they were looking for evidence of my religion. He then ordered me out of the vehicle, took my mobile from me and searched me with one hand while he held the gun with the other hand.'' The gunman then began searching through documents in the car including letters bearing the taxi driver's name and address from which the attackers were able to establish that he was a Catholic, the gunman put these in his pocket.

``Then he pointed his gun at me but it seemed to jam, he called me a lucky fenian bastard before he began hitting the gun on the road in an effort to unjam it. They told me not to report this attack until the next day and if I did they knew where I lived and they would come after me.''

The two gunmen got into the car and sped off back towards Belfast, where they were arrested by the RUC and charged with robbery and hijacking. The taxi driver, who was visibly shaken, has now moved house and says he will need medication and counselling. He said that his attackers would be able to track down his friends and family, whose telephone numbers he had stored on his mobile phone and he fears for their safety.

More North Belfast attacks on nationalists

By Deirdre Feehan

``This latest attack on a nationalist home in the Whitewell area of North Belfast could have resulted in more dead Catholics,'' said Sinn Féin's Danny Lavery when he spoke to An Phoblacht outside Anne Nee's Whitewell Road home on Tuesday 20 July, just hours after another loyalist attack.

The Whitewell Road home of Anne Nee, a community worker and lone parent, came under attack from loyalist petrol bombs shortly after midnight on Tuesday 20 July. Nee was watching television with her children aged 10, 15 and 17.

Afterwards, as she stood outside her home beside the scorch marks left by the bombs, she explained that three masked men in a red Yugo car attacked the house with petrol bombs, causing scorch damage to the front door, window frame and wall, before they made their getaway. The car was later found burnt out on the Serpentine Road.

Nee, secretary for the Greencastle Community Association, said she believes she was targeted because she had recently given an interview to a newspaper in which she called for direct talks between loyalists living in White City and nationalists living in Whitewell after an upsurge in the ongoing loyalist campaign of violence against nationalists.

``It's an orchestrated campaign to get Catholics off this road.'' said Nee. ``They have put about 40 families out of the Graymount area and six out of the Whitewell and Serpentine in the last year and a half''.

Nee said her neighbour had been warned by people from the White City that an attack on her home was imminent.

Despite all this she is adamant that she will not leave her home of 24 years.

Sinn Féin Assembly member Gerry Kelly has said that this latest attack is part of a UDA campaign against Catholics in the Whitewell Road area of North Belfast.

Kelly said: ``They have succeeded in driving almost the entire Catholic population out of Graymount over the last few years.

``I am calling on Gary McMichael and community groups in the area to use their influence to end the intimidation of Catholics in North Belfast, which should stop immediately''.

Meanwhile, a man was seriously assaulted by a gang of loyalists as he left his home in the Limestone area in the early hours of Saturday morning, 17 July. The gang of around 15 men, armed with sticks and bottles, beat the man outside his house as he left to ensure the safety of his wife and sister-in-law, who had departed a few minutes earlier to walk down the road. Both women were also attacked with bottles by the loyalist thugs.

UVF threat to nationalists

Seán Hayes, Sinn Féin councillor for South Belfast, has urged nationalists to be vigilant following the discovery of a loyalist arms cache and documents in the Donegall Pass area of South Belfast.

The find of a sub-machine gun, three handguns, a pipe bomb, ammunition, cudgels, baseball bats, balaclavas, sledgehammers and combat gear at two addresses at Pine Way in the Donegal Pass area comes after the PUP's Billy Hutchinson said that the UVF would be reviewing its attitude to the peace process.

The UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party has claimed that the loyalist group will decide within the next three weeks if it will stay in contact with General John de Chastelain's decommissioning body.

Councillor Hayes said:

``The discovery of pipe bombs, weapons and documents in Donegall Pass is a worrying development. It proves that there are loyalists in the area still active and still posing a significant threat to nationalists in South Belfast.''

Meanwhile, three men appeared in court in Belfast on Monday 19 July in connection with the arms find: Stewart Armstrong (33), from Pine Way, Richard Fitzsimmons (25), from Pine Way, both Donegall Pass; and William Hewitt (24), from Forthriver Green, North Belfast.

Death threat to mother out shopping

A mother out shopping was stopped by loyalists and told that if she didn't get out of her Limavady home then her children would be leaving the house in white coffins. ``I was going to be burnt out if we didn't leave,'' said Ciara Clarke, who received the threat almost a year to the day after the three young Quinn children died in a loyalist firebomb attack in Ballymoney.

Her children are aged eight months to four years old.

Ciara, from Keady Way, was confronted by loyalists while out shopping on a Saturday morning.

``I was given a clear personal warning that, if I didn't leave, the only way my three children would be leaving that house would be in white coffins. This happened in the middle of town when I was out shopping.

``If someone puts a petrol bomb though my window how am I going to get three small children out of the house?''

This threat is the climax of a series of attacks against her family which began when loyalist bunting was erected on her home without her consent. When she first moved into the house her windows were smashed, with the glass falling on her youngest son, who was only 12 weeks old at the time.

She says that things then began to improve but at the start of the marching season things deteriorated again.

``They put up a Red Hand of Ulster flag on my gable without asking me. I heard the ladders going up on the wall about half-past two in the morning and then they started to beat their drums.''

A tearful Ciara said: ``I want somebody to stand and explain to me how a girl with three young children can be forced out of her home when these things aren't supposed to happen anymore.''

`They knew we were Catholics and wanted us out'

A young Catholic couple are calling on the RUC to explain why they took nearly an hour to answer 999 calls to their home when it was being attacked by a loyalist mob. The RUC barracks is two minutes' drive away.

The couple, who are now living with relatives in Belfast, were attacked by a gang of 30 loyalists at their home in the Lissize Avenue estate, Rathfriland, County Down, on Friday 9 July.

Thomas Gault (20) and his fiancee Fiona Lennon (18) had only been living there for two months.

Mr Gault explained that the attack took place around midnight on Friday. His father had seen a crowd of people gathering at the end of the street and phoned the couple two minutes before the attack.

``He told us to lock the doors and turn off the lights. About 20 seconds later, the windows were put through. We didn't know what would happen.''

Thomas's fiancee, Fiona, said:

``We never had any problems in the estate before and we had just got the house done up. They knew we were Catholics and wanted us out.''

The couple have said that both they and their neighbours had phoned 999 several times. But they had to wait 45 minutes for the RUC to arrive from their barracks which is only two minutes drive away.

The RUC denies receiving reports about a mob being present.

Sectarian beating

A loyalist gang of three men burst through the door of the home of 27-year-old Catholic man Simon Delaney and beat him with clubs as his two-year-old niece looked on.

The attack took place in Rowan Road, Ballymoney, County Antrim at 11:30pm on Thursday 15 July and Delaney suffering a broken thumb and a head wound that required 16 stitches. During the assault, the attackers shouted ``fenian bastard'' Delaney said.

``They were all wearing masks and dark clothing with gloves. They had these clubs like truncheons but bigger.'' He went on to criticise news reports which he claimed did not give the full story.

``They are giving the impression that this wasn't sectarian, but it was.''

Two years ago, Delaney's brother was beaten by a group of loyalists in the town, and last week he was involved in an argument with another loyalist in a filling station.