A motorist could yield a clue to the identity of bank robbers who carried out a £200,000 (€293,000) hostage raid in Belfast, it emerged today.

THE DUP has condemned the latest wave of sectarian attacks after another night of violence in the North.

Security minister Shaun Woodward today pledged a major crackdown on the sectarian thugs attacking pensioners and childrens’ homes in north Belfast.

A LONG-TERM strategy needs to be developed to end tit-for-tat violence in sectarian flashpoint areas of North Belfast, community leaders heard yesterday.

Belfast was calm today after another night of sectarian clashes in the north of the city.

Police have restored calm to a district of north Belfast after clashes between rival youths.

Three young men might not have died in a horrific traffic collision if there had been better road warning signs, a Belfast inquest heard today.

A man was in hospital today with a serious head injury after trouble flared at a flashpoint area of north Belfast.

There was renewed violence in Northern Ireland overnight with petrol bombs thrown at houses in west Belfast.

A PRIEST at the centre of the Holy Cross dispute spoke of his fears yesterday for the new term as children prepare to return to school at a north Belfast flashpoint.

The chairman of the board of governors at the Holy Cross girls’ primary school in north Belfast has expressed concern ahead of the beginning of the new school term.

Independent monitors must be placed at sectarian flashpoints across Belfast in a bid to identify ringleaders orchestrating street violence, republicans demanded today.

Political efforts to stem the rising tide of violence at sectarian flashpoints across Belfast were intensifying today with a number of high-profile meetings following a night of further violence in the city.

A delegation of Sinn Fein councillors and residents from Alliance Avenue in the Ardoyne today met the US Consul General Barbara Stevenson.

A woman and children had a narrow escape tonight after their North Belfast home was attacked with gunfire in a sectarian flash point area of the city.

Reports of gunfire in a volatile north Belfast district where a bitterly disputed loyalist march took place were tonight being probed by police.

There are reports that shots have been fired on the Ardoyne and the Alliance avenue in the North this afternoon.

Extra police and soldiers are expected to be drafted into north Belfast tomorrow in preparation for a controversial loyalist parade through a nationalist area.

Police and Army were out in force in North Belfast after fresh violence erupted in the flashpoint area.

Shots were fired in flashpoint north Belfast as sectarian tensions erupted in the area overnight.

Police and British soldiers were called to the troubled Ardoyne area of north Belfast this afternoon following sectarian clashes between loyalists and nationalists.

A pipe bomb discovered at the rear of Catholic homes in north Belfast was intended to add to the sectarian death toll in the area, it is claimed.

A Protestant man has been shot and injured in the Glenbryn Park area of Ardoyne in north Belfast.

A pipe bomb has been found after loyalists called off their protest at the Holy Cross Primary School.

A man and his two sons were treated for shock after a bomb attack on their home in Belfast last night.

The RUC is investigating a suspected pipe-bomb attack on a Catholic home in Alliance Avenue in north Belfast.

Stormont Security Minister Jane Kennedy has announced a series of measures in a bid to stem sectarian attacks in the Ardoyne area.

Police were today investigating the attempted abduction of a woman in north Belfast.

Fresh gun attacks were last night mounted on police during the latest riots in north Belfast, the RUC said.

The RUC is investigating two separate shooting incidents during another night of rioting at the nationalist-loyalist interface in north Belfast.

A man is being treated for a minor gunshot wound after another night of rioting in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast.

A pipe bomb was defused today after being found in the back garden of a house in north Belfast.

At least a dozen RUC officers were injured during another night of sustained rioting in north Belfast.

A fresh bomb attack was launched in flashpoint north Belfast tonight as five Protestant families were forced to flee their homes in the troubled area.

Shots were fired, petrol bombs thrown and police officers injured when sectarian street violence in Belfast turned into serious rioting overnight.

Loyalists were tonight accused of launching a pipe bomb attack as police kept rival Protestant and Catholic factions apart in north Belfast.

A bomb has exploded on Alliance Avenue near the peace line in Belfast.

The RUC said a number of people were arrested following a shooting incident

Guns and a pipe bomb have been found by police after a number of loyalists were arrested and questioned about a gun attack in north Belfast.

Police were today questioning a number of people following a gun attack in north Belfast.