Several hurt in Belfast bomb attack

A 14-year-old boy is among the injured after a bomb exploded during riots in north Belfast.

A 14-year-old boy is among the injured after a bomb exploded during riots in north Belfast.

The device went off after clashes between Catholic and Protestant factions in the Limestone area.

The boy was taken to hospital, though his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

At least one other person is believed to have suffered minor injuries during the trouble, which started when groups of youths began hurling stones in the Newington Street and Hallidays Road area.

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Teenager Billy Reid said he was on a wall when the bomb exploded close to him.

He said: "I heard a big bang and I fell off the wall."

Sinn Fein representative Ms Cathy Stanton claimed the trouble had escalated since this morning when a bus taking Catholic children was pelted with missiles as it set off on a day trip to the seaside resort of Bangor.

She said: "Gangs of loyalist men came in and attacked homes with bolts, bottles and bricks.

"Some people came out to protect their homes, a bomb blast came straight in and exploded in the middle of nationalists."

She claimed three people had been hurt - two of them young people who suffered only minor injuries and the third a man who was reported locally to have suffered a shoulder wound.

PA