BELFAST (Reuters) - Explosions and shots shook parts of north Belfast on Monday as violence flared in sectarian flashpoints for the third night running, police said. (Read photo caption below)
Three powerful blasts and bursts of gunfire stirred fresh tension in zones where Protestants and Roman Catholics live in a climate of friction that has regularly spilled over into violence in recent months.
There were no reports of injuries but on Sunday 14 police officers were hurt, including four who were in a mobile patrol vehicle when a pipebomb exploded close by.
The latest flareup followed sporadic but intensive bouts of violence in hotspots on Sunday when bricks, bottles, incendiary devices and blast bombs were hurled by rival gangs.
Homes were damaged and each side blamed ``the other'' for instigating it.
Jane Kennedy, security minister at Britain's Northern Ireland Office, condemned the Duncairn Gardens shooting as ''discriminate and indiscriminate.''
Protestant ``Unionists'' pointed a finger for the gun attacks at the Irish Republican Army and its Sinn Fein political ally.
The IRA has halted a 30-year war against rule from London but Protestant politicians say the IRA must change tack and agree to destroy its arsenal if they are ever to accept that its ``war is over.''
Sinn Fein blamed ``loyalists'' for the use of the pipebombs, which are a central part of loyalist militias' armory of home-made weaponry.
Police said rioting over the weekend at Limestone Road and Crumlin Road had been among the worst for years.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Shots have been fired at the police in one of two gun attacks in north Belfast. The incident followed fierce rioting in the area at the weekend. More than 20 shots were fired at a Protestant-owned house in the Hallidays Road area at about 2120 BST on Monday.