The UDP leader, Mr Gary McMichael, has challenged the party's members in Co Antrim to find a "new political home" if they cannot accept its continuing support for the Belfast Agreement. He said previous "suspicion" of the agreement among unionists in the county had hardened to hostility but there was no excuse for the current attacks against Catholic families. The attacks have been widely blamed on the UDA, which is linked to the UDP.
The Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, yesterday visited Larne, Co Antrim, and described the situation there as disgraceful.
In the most recent incident, a pipe bomb exploded at a house in the Heights area of Coleraine, Co Derry, on Tuesday night as a Catholic family slept.
A pipe bomb was also discovered at the rear of a house in north Belfast belonging to a brother of the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan. The house on the Cavehill Road was unoccupied and the "improvised" device was taken for forensic examination.
Mr McMichael yesterday said a blind eye could not be turned to the violence.
"I am as curious as anyone is to ascertain whether there is a linkage between the geography of these attacks, the intent of the attacks, and the origins of the difficulties geographically that the UDP is facing at this time - because they all coincide.
"If I was in the leadership of the UDA, I'd want to know what the hell was going on because this obviously has greater long-term implications if it is not dealt with now."
Tonight the UDP is to hold an officers' meeting to debate the party's political direction. Mr McMichael yesterday told The Irish Times a split with the south-east Antrim and north Antrim/Derry associations was a possible outcome.
"If they feel the party cannot represent their interests and their principles satisfactorily then perhaps they should find another political home.
"I think it would be absurd for us to consider changing our position on the agreement when those who are arguing that we should change our position have yet to produce any ideas as to how we would progress unionism if the agreement was to go."
Mr Tommy Kirkham, a UDP councillor on Newtownabbey Council, yesterday said he believed a hardening of policy would be incorporated into party policy "one way or another" following the meeting.
He predicted a split would not occur "but whatever happens it will be clear on Friday morning where we are", he added.
Mr Kirkham, a former member of the DUP, confirmed the UDA is currently recruiting "substantial numbers" in the Antrim area. However, he denied UDA involvement in the attacks on Catholics.
Earlier, Mr Mandelson met victims of the attacks. He said violence was blighting the community and people must choose whether they wanted the town to be a sectarian ghetto or a prosperous port.
Meanwhile, a Catholic man claimed he was confronted by a well-known loyalist in Larne yesterday and threatened with a machete. He said the incident occurred during Mr Mandelson's visit, and that it followed two attacks on the homes of relatives over the last two weeks.