A close friend of IRA murder victim Robert McCartney is under new threat from the Provisionals, he claimed tonight.

Tension rose in a sectarian flashpoint area of Belfast amid reports of gunfire in the north of the city.

Two people are tonight being treated for bullet wounds as a sectarian flashpoint area in east Belfast erupted in more violence.

Police and Army personnel were called in to control rioting that broke out in east Belfast for the second night running.