Gunmen fire on police

There was pressure today to review the IRA ceasefire after republican gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons on police and Protestant homes in north Belfast.

Eight shots were fired yesterday from the nationalist side of the interface between the warring rival factions at police who were lured to the area to investigate a report of a suspect device in the back yard of a house.

The RUC said the shots were fired from the nationalist end of Hallidays Road. There were no injuries.

Later last night, 25 shots were fired at a Protestant home in the loyalist area of Tiger’s Bay.

Soon afterwards police began investigating reports of two loud explosions at Clanchattan Street amid Sinn Fein claims that blast bombs had been thrown across the interface at Catholic-owned homes.

A pipe bomb also exploded near a house at Hallidays Road. Again there were no reported injuries.

MP for north Belfast, Democratic Unionist Nigel Dodds, called for a review the IRA ceasefire in the wake of the shootings.

He said: ‘‘If the Secretary of State is going to review certain ceasefires on the loyalist side he should look very carefully at the status of the IRA ceasefire.

‘‘It has been clear for some time that the IRA are busy orchestrating the violence in north Belfast, and now we have automatic rifle fire aimed at police.

‘‘It is time that the Secretary of State investigated the IRA ceasefire as a matter or urgency.’’

Northern Ireland Security Minister Jane Kennedy condemned the gun attack on the RUC.

She said it was a further serious escalation of the intercommunal dispute in the area and ‘‘no right-thinking people would tolerate it’’, she added.

Ms Kennedy said she deplored ‘‘the dangerous and cowardly attack...police are there trying to do their duty in the protection of life and property of both communities’’.

The overwhelming majority of people in Northern Ireland recognised the bravery and dedication of police officers as they were continually caught in the middle.

‘‘This disgraceful and indiscriminate attack could have cost the life of a police officer or member of the public.

‘‘Anyone carrying out such an attack is attacking the will of the vast majority of law abiding citizens who want to live in peaceful co-existence,’’ the minister added.

The sectarian violence in north Belfast throughout out recent months was described earlier by a police chief as the worst in Belfast in 20 years.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan said: ‘‘Some of the rioting we have seen in north Belfast this summer is some of the worst we have seen in Belfast since the 1981 hunger strikes - it is that level of ferocity, that level of violence.

More than 300 police officers have been injured - 14 were injured over the weekend, four of them in a blast bomb attack.