Pipe bomb attack on home

Trouble erupted earlier at the Halliday's Road interface

Five people, including three children, have escaped injury in a pipe bomb attack in north Belfast.

It happened on the Oldpark Road at about 0030 BST on Thursday.

The device was thrown through the living room window of the house and started a fire.

The people in the house managed to put the fire out.

Made safe

None was injured, but several were treated for shock.

Army technical officers were called to the scene and made the device safe. It is not thought the bomb exploded.

Meanwhile, the RUC are investigating reports that gunfire was heard during trouble between nationalists and loyalists in north Belfast on Wednesday night.

Bricks, bottles and metal bolts were thrown, and an explosive device caused damage to a house on the Catholic side of the peaceline at the mainly loyalist Tiger's Bay.

The householders - a man and woman - were in bed at the time.

Shops damaged

The bathroom, bedroom and downstairs windows were broken.

Nationalist residents described the device as a blast bomb.

Earlier, a number of houses and shops were damaged during street fighting between rival groups in north Belfast.

The trouble broke out on the Limestone Road between the nationalist Newington Street area and Halliday's Road on the edge of the Tiger's Bay area on Wednesday afternoon.

A small wall separates the two streets and windows on houses backing on to it were broken.

Windows were broken in shops and houses

Glass shattered into the living rooms of the houses.

Nationalists said loyalist rioters were summoned with a siren.

It could be heard sounding in the area during trouble.

Those on the Protestant side said the siren was being used to warn residents of nationalist attacks on their homes.

Tensions high

Last Monday, there was trouble in the area when nationalists and loyalists clashed at the community interface between Duncairn Gardens and Halliday's Road.

The violence began when rival groups began throwing stones, bottles and bricks at each other early in the evening.

When the security forces created a buffer zone between the two groups the rioters threw petrol bombs and acid bombs at them.

After that incident Sinn Fein North Belfast assembly member Gerry Kelly called for the security gate between the two areas to be made into a permanent part of the 'peaceline' wall.

The clashes followed a period of tension in north Belfast, which heightened in June when loyalists prevented Catholic school children from passing through the Glenbryn area on their normal route to the Holy Cross Girls Primary school in nearby Ardoyne.