Shots fired as man flees from car

Eyewitnesses said officers fired between five and six shots

Police trying to make an arrest in connection with the recent murders of two men in Belfast have fired a number of shots at a suspect.

It happened at Ardilea Street in the Ardoyne area at 1700 GMT on Wednesday.

Eyewitnesses said officers fired between five and six shots after a man who had been driving a car involved in a police chase fled on foot.

No-one was injured in the incident, but Sinn Fein is questioning why bullets were fired in a busy residential area.

The party's north Belfast assembly member said: "Whatever this person was or was not at, and none of us know, he was not armed, there was no exchange of fire.

"There had to be another way of apprehending this person as opposed to firing shots. We could have had another dead person in this community tonight."

A window of a nearby house was shattered by a bullet and children were playing in the street at the time of the incident.

Roads in the area are still cordoned off as officers from the Police Ombudsman's office examine the scene.

The body of Edward Burns, 36, - who was shot in the head - was found on the Falls Road in west Belfast on Monday and the beaten body of Joe Jones, 38, was discovered in north Belfast on the same day near Elmfield Street in the Ardoyne area.

Investigating officers said on Tuesday the killings had taken place against the backdrop of tension within dissident republicanism.

It is understood the organisation involved may be the Continuity IRA.

Detectives want to talk to anyone who saw a silver Skoda car, registration number PKZ 3760, in north or west Belfast late on Sunday afternoon.

A number of men may have been travelling in the car.