The Police Ombudsman's Office in Northern Ireland has appealed for information in relation to reports that a plastic bullet struck a 16-year-old girl during riots last week.
Ciara Moss was struck on the forehead and knocked to the ground during rioting in Ardoyne in north Belfast on July 12th. She received six stitches in the wound.
Ms Nuala O'Loan's office said investigators were anxious to speak with men who had helped the girl home or to anyone who saw what happened.
"It is believed three or four men lifted the girl off the ground and took her to her home in Stratford Gardens, where they told her parents she had been hit by a baton round," she said. Republicans in the area said it was believed a round had ricocheted off a wall and hit her.
Ms Moss, a striker for the Northern Ireland girls' soccer team, had been due to play in an international fixture in Holland this week. She said she had been making her way to a friend's house when she was caught up in the riot.
Several people were treated in hospital when the RUC discharged more than 40 plastic bullets in Ardoyne last week. One man was injured in the chest, while others suffered arm and legs injuries.
Meanwhile, an RUC officer who was seriously injured in the Ardoyne rioting is not expected to return to work for six months. A police spokesman said the officer suffered a fractured skull. Eighteen other officers received hospital treatment.