A teenager was shot dead in a drive-by shooting outside a GAA club in north Belfast last night. Another youth was injured in the shooting.
According to people in the area, the dead youth, age 19, was a Protestant while the young man who was injured, a friend of the victim, was a Catholic.
The shooting happened at about 11.30 p.m. in the vicinity of St Enda's GAA Club on the Hightown Road in Glengormley, where a number of youths were gathered on Hightown Road at the junction with Hollybrook Road.
According to the RUC, a car drove up Hightown Road from Glengormley village and an occupant opened fire. The injured youth, aged 18, was shot in the leg and later rushed to hospital. His injuries were said not to be life-threatening.
The Sinn Fein MLA for the area, Mr Gerry Kelly, arrived at the scene shortly before midnight. Blaming the UDA for the attack, he said it was the "essence of sectarianism". The road remained cordoned off at 1.30 a.m and the body remained at the scene.
RUC describe the area as a "mixed" area.
There were several further incidents of violence in north Belfast overnight. Shortly before midnight petrol-bombs and stones were thrown at two houses in Wheatfield Gardens and at a flat on Alliance Avenue.
At about 12.15 a.m., shots were fired on Hallidays Road and a glass bomb was later thrown at a house at Manor Court.
Yesterday morning, a pipe bomb had to be made safe by army bomb-disposal experts after it was found at the gates of O'Donovan Rossa GAA club in Magherafelt, Co Derry. Police warned GAA clubs across the North to be on the alert. A Sinn Fein MLA for the area, Mr John Kelly, blamed the loyalist Ulster Defence Association for the attack. Addressing a hunger-strike commemoration rally, Sinn Fein president Mr Gerry Adams yesterday accused loyalists of orchestrating a campaign of violence against Catholics to try to suck republicans "back to war".
Meanwhile, the Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, has called on people in north Belfast not to allow themselves to be manipulated by elements determined to wreck the peace process.
Dr Reid issued the call on Saturday after meeting a Sinn Fein delegation to discuss the ongoing clashes between loyalists and nationalists in north Belfast.
Only hours later, however, fresh violence erupted in the Ardoyne area, where there were two shooting incidents, while one man received stab wounds to his chest during clashes in the Whitewell area. His condition is not life-threatening. Three RUC officers were injured during the clashes. British army technical officers defused a pipe bomb in nearby Serpentine Road.
In Ardoyne, one of the main focal points of disturbances since July 12th, up to 10 gunshots were heard in the mainly nationalist Alliance Avenue area on Saturday at around 11 p.m. There were no reports of any injuries. A short time later police returned fire after automatic gunfire was directed at them from the Glenbryn Drive area off Ardoyne Road. Nobody was injured in the incident.
Loyalist residents from the Glenbryn area yesterday afternoon picketed Tennant Street RUC station on the Crumlin Road to protest at the use of live rounds by policeon Saturday night. Residents' representatives handed in a letter of protest and said they would be seeking an urgent meeting with the police ombudsman, Ms Nuala O'Loan.