The Ulster Defence Association's political wing, the Ulster Democratic Party, last night warned that violence involving rival loyalist factions in the Shankill Road area of Belfast could end in "a Bosnian-style conflict".
The UDP chairman, Mr John White, claimed UVF members attempted to ram a car driven by Ms Gina Adair, the wife of the former UDA commander, Johnny Adair, as she collected her children from school on the Ballygomartin Road.
Mr White also claimed there was an attempt to stab Ms Agnes Coulter, whose husband, Jackie, a UDA member, was killed by the UVF last month.
Political representatives of both the UDA and UVF have failed to agree a formula to end the fighting which broke out a month ago, and Mr White warned that the situation could deteriorate further.
The UVF had to deal with elements inside the organisation, he said. "Unless the UVF deals with these thugs, it is going to make a resolution of this conflict impossible. By attacking women and children, they have stooped to a new low.
"If the UVF do not get to grips with this situation, then we will be facing a Bosnia-like conflict on the Shankill where people will not be allowed to live their lives."
Meanwhile the Alliance Party has condemned a pipe-bomb attack on a house in Ballysally in Coleraine, Co Derry. The incident is understood to be linked to the loyalist feud. No one was injured in the attack after the device exploded in the garden.