Security forces have foiled a bid to kill police officers in the North, it was revealed today.

An armed gang which kidnapped and robbed a man in Derry and dumped him across the border in Co Donegal was tonight being hunted by police.

A woman, her 10-year-old son and their pet dog were rescued from a fire today during an early morning arson attack on their home in Derry.

RESIDENTS yesterday claimed that heavy-handed action by police was to blame for a riot in Belfast which led to 40 police officers being injured during a clash with angry loyalists.

Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley intervened tonight in a bid to prevent further rioting in Belfast linked to a loyalist paramilitary feud.

DETECTIVES yesterday released CCTV stills of men they wish to question in connection with the July 12 riots in north Belfast.

EIGHTEEN police officers and eleven other people were hurt in a running battle with nationalist protesters following the latest violence to flare up during an Orange Order parade in the North.

Firefighters pulled an unconscious man from a burning house in Derry overnight.

A sectarian attack on a minibus full of junior soccer players in which four boys were injured was condemned by a police chief today.

A man and woman died in a desperate attempt to escape a house fire today.

Former Irish international rugby coach Mick Doyle was driving to a business meeting when he was killed in a road crash, it emerged tonight.

Community leaders must help stop nightly attacks on fire engines in Belfast before someone is killed, a senior officer said today.

Mr Ivan Barr, the Sinn Fein Chairman of Strabane District Council, said he was horrified by the killing of a protestant man as he left the home of his Catholic girlfriend las night.

The security forces have come under attack for the second night running in Portadown.