Loyalist 'infiltrators' sought in Belfast

Loyalists posing as Glasgow Celtic supporters are being sought by police after a series of attacks in flashpoint north Belfast.

The police say the incidence of loyalists dressing up in Celtic tops to give the impression they are Catholic is increasing. In the latest incident, a 17-year-old Protestant youth was stabbed three times in the head after being confronted by a loyalist gang.

He had just got off a bus between the Catholic New Lodge and Protestant Tigers’ Bay areas, when he was asked his religion by four youths, one of them dressed in Celtic`s green and white colours.

Believing them to be Catholic, he pretended to be Catholic himself, but as he was fleeing he stumbled and was set upon, stabbed and beaten.

Earlier a woman was stopped in her car at a nearby junction by three youths, the ringleader again wearing a Celtic jersey.

She was questioned before the leader smashed her car windows and began beating her.

Police sources said members of the Ulster Young Militants, the youth wing of the UDA, regularly disguise themselves in the Catholic club`s colours.