Police Assaults Northern Ireland

A soldier was killed and two were injured Friday in a bomb blast at a security checkpoint on the border with Ireland, police said.

Gunmen wounded three British soldiers and two police officers at a checkpoint in north Belfast, police said, in an attack on the eve of Protestant marches throughout the province. Hospital official said none of the injuries was life-threatening. Residents of the Catholic enclave of Ardoyne said attackers fired about 20 shots and threw a grenade at the security forces before speeding away.

Gunmen in passing cars killed a Roman Catholic man near a church in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and shot another Catholic man in the back in another part of the city, police said. They said they could not immediately link the two attacks. Friends identified the man killed in north Belfast as William Totten, 46. Police said a 23-year-old man, who was not identified, was wounded in the second drive-by shooting while waiting for a ride on a street in west Belfast.

A police officer was seriously wounded by a gunman in Northern Ireland on Thursday, ending hopes that the Irish Republican Army would announce a cease-fire before British national elections May 1. The shooting in Londonderry sparked fears among analysts that it might reignite full-scale sectarian warfare between Catholic republicans and Protestant loyalists in the angrily divided British province.

A police officer was seriously wounded by a gunman in Northern Ireland on Thursday, ending hopes that the Irish Republican Army would announce a cease-fire before British national elections May 1. The shooting in Londonderry sparked fears among analysts that it might reignite full-scale sectarian warfare between Catholic republicans and Protestant loyalists in the angrily divided British province.

Gunmen wounded three British soldiers and two police officers at a checkpoint in north Belfast, police said, in an attack on the eve of Protestant marches throughout the province. Hospital official said none of the injuries was life-threatening. Residents of the Catholic enclave of Ardoyne said attackers fired about 20 shots and threw a grenade at the security forces before speeding away.

Sixteen minutes after a three-day Christmas truce ended Monday, the IRA launched a mortar attack on a rural police station that injured two civilians. The attack at Fintona, 60 miles west of Belfast, was the first raid by the IRA since it tried to blow up a British army patrol a week ago, injuring one soldier. Police said a gunman in a car later Monday fired on a British military lookout post but injured no one.

Police exchanged gunfire with rioters in a Roman Catholic neighborhood early today after 100,000 Protestants marched throughout the British-ruled province commemorating centuries-old battles. Rioters set fire to vehicles and attacked police in the Ballymurphy district of west Belfast in a second night of violence, venting their anger over police decisions to allow two Protestant marches through Catholic enclaves Thursday and Friday.

Police exchanged gunfire with rioters in a Roman Catholic neighborhood early today after 100,000 Protestants marched throughout the British-ruled province commemorating centuries-old battles. Rioters set fire to vehicles and attacked police in the Ballymurphy district of west Belfast in a second night of violence, venting their anger over police decisions to allow two Protestant marches through Catholic enclaves Thursday and Friday.

Sixteen minutes after a three-day Christmas truce ended Monday, the IRA launched a mortar attack on a rural police station that injured two civilians. The attack at Fintona, 60 miles west of Belfast, was the first raid by the IRA since it tried to blow up a British army patrol a week ago, injuring one soldier. Police said a gunman in a car later Monday fired on a British military lookout post but injured no one.

A soldier was killed and two were injured Friday in a bomb blast at a security checkpoint on the border with Ireland, police said.

Gunmen in passing cars killed a Roman Catholic man near a church in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and shot another Catholic man in the back in another part of the city, police said. They said they could not immediately link the two attacks. Friends identified the man killed in north Belfast as William Totten, 46. Police said a 23-year-old man, who was not identified, was wounded in the second drive-by shooting while waiting for a ride on a street in west Belfast.