Shots fired at police in Belfast

Shots were fired and petrol bombs thrown when police came under attack in Belfast early today.

Two civilians were injured and two more arrested during the trouble at the junction of the Ormeau Road and Donegall Pass.

The violence started when police were called to the Ormeau Road in the south of the city at around 2.00am to investigate reports of an assault and discovered rival crowds of nationalists and loyalists armed with bottles and sticks.

Police came under missile and petrol bomb attack and two shots were fired at them.

A stockpile of petrol bombs in two crates were recovered by the security forces at Walnut Street in the Donegall Pass area, said a PSNI spokeswoman.

The area was later reported calm and police said they had no reports of any of their officers being injured.