Police under petrol bomb attack

Two cars were set alight by youths

Police in Northern Ireland have come under renewed attack with petrol bombs.

A group of about six youths set two vehicles on fire in the Clifton Street area of north Belfast on Friday night.

The fire brigade were stoned as they arrived, and petrol bombs were thrown when the police got there shortly afterwards.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary later recovered a dozen petrol bombs and a quantity of petrol in nearby Alton Street.

Officers injured

It follows widespread trouble on Thursday when the RUC tried to clear nationalist protesters who blocked the route of local Orangemen returning home from their annual 12 July parades.

RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan said he is investigating the possibility the IRA may have been behind Thursday night's violence.

Police said more than 100 officers were injured in serious rioting in Ardoyne.

The chief constable was asked by BBC Northern Ireland's chief security correspondent Brian Rowan if the violence was orchestrated by the IRA.

Sir Ronnie responded by saying: "I would think that is a line we would want to pursue very rigorously."

People do not spontaneously have to hand acid bombs, blast bombs, and angle grinders to cut down lampposts to block roads

Sir Ronnie Flanagan

He also said the trouble "was planned".

The violence came ahead of the resumption of negotiations between the political parties and the British and Irish governments to try to resolve the current political impasse in the province.

Further talks are taking place at Weston Park in Staffordshire to try to resolve the outstanding issues of policing, decommissioning and demilitarisation.

'Place the blame'

Speaking on his way into the talks, the Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, said he wanted to speak to the republican leadership and the governments about the violence.

However, speaking at the same venue Sinn Fein's Bairbre De Brun, denied that the violence was organised.

She said what was needed now was for all those involved in the negotiations to shoulder their responsibilities and try to find a solution, rather than trying to place the blame.

Earlier, Sir Ronnie said: "People do not spontaneously have to hand acid bombs, blast bombs, and angle grinders to cut down lampposts to block roads."

"This was orchestrated. I have little doubt about that."

Sir Ronnie: "My officers had to act"

He added that the police were examining video footage "to determine whether there were key individuals there and who those individuals were".

A total of 250 petrol bombs and two blast bombs were thrown during seven hours of violence. Police replied with almost 50 plastic bullets.

At one stage a petrol filling station was also set alight by rioters.

Nationalists have accused the police of brutality.

The violence has sparked a round of bitter recrimination between the two communities.

The area's Democratic Unionist Party MP, Nigel Dodds, said the violence was orchestrated by republicans.

Rioters cut a lamppost down to block the road

However, the Sinn Fein assembly member for north Belfast, Gerry Kelly, denied the violence was organised.

He said people had been provoked.

Ardoyne SDLP councillor Martin Morgan condemned what he called a heavy and provocative police operation.