Police attacked with petrol bombs in east Belfast

A number of petrol bombs and other missiles were thrown at police during disturbances in east Belfast last night.

PSNI officers and firefighters were attacked with bottles after responding to a hoax call in the Ballybeen estate shortly after 9pm, but nobody was hurt.

Petrol bombs were also thrown at police officers in the Dunlady Road area, but again nobody was injured.

A brick and a petrol bomb were subsequently thrown through the windscreen of an articulated lorry at around 3.15am.

The lorry caught fire and the cab was destroyed after it was abandoned at the junction of Upper Newtownards Road and Dunlady Road.

Minor damage was also caused to traffic lights in the area.

Meanwhile, bomb disposal experts defused a hand grenade found at the rear of a house in Kircubbin, Co Down, last night, while a number of hoax bomb warnings also sparked security alerts in the Great Victoria Street and Oxford Street areas of Belfast.