Red Hand Defenders claim Belfast murder

The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name for the UDA, has claimed responsibility for the murder of a catholic man in North Belfast.

The man, in his early twenties, was shot dead on the Floral Road in what appears to have been a drive-by shooting.

Earlier a 19-year-old Protestant man was shot in the Glenbryn Park area of the Ardoyne, close to the Holy Cross primary school for girls.

He is in a stable condition in hospital.

A Catholic man was also shot in the upper thigh in the Nationalist Oldpark area.

Police are investigating several other shooting incidents in North Belfast.

The shootings last night and early this morning follow a series of violent clashes between loyalist and republican mobs in North Belfast over the weekend.