Shots fired during sectarian clashes

Shots were fired during sectarian clashes between rival factions in a flashpoint area of north Belfast today.

Trouble began when opposing crowds at the Clifton Park Avenue interface taunted each other before hurling bricks and stones.

An RUC spokesman said a number of shots were then fired from a handgun at Alloa Street on the loyalist side towards a crowd on the nationalist Cliftonville Road.

Police arrived on the scene quickly and defused the situation.

A 19-year-old woman went to hospital after she claimed she was shot in the leg, the spokesman said.

Earlier two blast bombs exploded during clashes at another nearby interface.