The British government is under pressure today to review the IRA ceasefire after republican gunmen fired with automatic weapons at police and Protestant homes in north Belfast.
The RUC said the shots were fired last night from the nationalist end of Hallidays Road. There were no injuries.
Eight shots were fired at police who were lured to the area to investigate a report of a suspect bomb in the back yard of a house.
Later in the night, 25 shots were fired at a Protestant home at the loyalist end of the same street.
Soon afterward, police began investigating reports of two loud explosions at Clanchattan Street amid Sinn Féin claims that blast bombs had been thrown across the interface at Catholic-owned homes.
A pipe bomb also exploded near a house at Hallidays Road. Again there were no reported injuries.
North Belfast MP Democratic Unionist Mr Nigel Dodds called on the British government to review the IRA ceasefire in the wake of the shootings.
"If the secretary of state is going to review certain ceasefires on the loyalist side he should look very carefully at the status of the IRA ceasefire," he said.
Northern Ireland Security Minister Ms Jane Kennedy condemned the gun attack on the RUC. She said it was a further serious escalation of the intercommunal dispute in the area and "no right-thinking people would tolerate it".
Ms Kennedy said she deplored "the dangerous and cowardly attack . . . police are there trying to do their duty in the protection of life and property of both communities".
PA