The RUC is questioning a 32-year-old woman about a loyalist blast-bomb attack in north Belfast which left a British soldier critically ill in hospital. The 18-year- old Welsh Fusilier underwent emergency surgery on his lower body after he was wounded when British soldiers in north Belfast came under attack from a loyalist crowd throwing petrol-bombs and other missiles on Friday night.
An RUC spokesman confirmed: "One person is being questioned by police in connection with the attempted murder of a soldier."
Security sources have blamed the attack on the UDA.
Trouble continued in north Belfast over the weekend. Twenty-three RUC officers were injured as Protestant and Catholic youths clashed yesterday on the Limestone Road and Hallidays Road area. Up to six blast bombs were thrown at RUC lines. A civilian suffered facial injuries from a pipe-bomb.
Up to 400 people were involved in the disturbances. The RUC had attempted to stop crowds throwing stones at each other.
On Saturday night, British army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion on a blast-bomb found outside a house in Cliftondene Crescent.
Meanwhile, the RUC clashed with Sinn FΘin supporters at a British army watchtower in south Armagh yesterday. As demilitarisation continued at other installations in response to IRA decommissioning, members of Sinn FΘin's youth wing tried to break through security fencing at Glassdrumman base near Crossmaglen.
Stones, bottles and fireworks were thrown at officers in riot gear during the confrontation, according to an RUC spokesman. Angle-grinders were also used in an attempt to cut down security cameras. The crowd had gathered to protest at the speed of demilitarisation.
A Sinn FΘin spokesman said the solution lay with the British government. "If the British take their war machine off the top of mountains in south Armagh, people would not have to march up and stage these protests," he said.