Loyalists accused of garden shed blast

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

Sinn Fein claimed the device was launched at a house in the nationalist Ardoyne area which has been marred by violent clashes over the past two days.

The blast damaged a garden shed at the back of the house in Alliance Avenue, but a couple inside escaped unhurt. They were treated for shock.

Sinn Fein councillor Martin Meehan claimed the pipe bomb was hurled by loyalists intent on heightening tensions in the flashpoint area.

Earlier police and troops were sent in to keep up rival factions apart as a crowd of around 250 gathered.

A Catholic primary school had been forced to close because of the trouble during which stones and bottles were hurled at parents and pupils.

At one stage two members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly and Billy Hutchinson from the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party, called for an end to the disturbances.