Soldier hurt in loyalist bomb attack

A soldier,aged 18, was critically ill in hospital today after being injured by a blast bomb attack in north Belfast.

A soldier,aged 18, was critically ill in hospital today after being injured during a blast bomb attack in north Belfast.

He was wounded when troops at a checkpoint close to the scene of the Holy Cross Primary School dispute came under attack last night from a crowd of loyalists hurling petrol bombs and other missiles.

The soldier was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in the city where he underwent emergency surgery. A hospital spokeswoman today confirmed he remained in a critical condition.

Alan McQuillan, the Royal Ulster Constabulary Assistant Chief Constable for Belfast, insisted rioters in the Glenbryn estate, a loyalist part of the flashpoint area, had pre-planned the attack.

"The soldiers were out, the area was relatively quiet, they were standing at a fixed point and suddenly a siren went off and large numbers of people appeared," he said.

"This certainly has all the hallmarks of a completely premeditated attack to lure them into an ambush."

A number of people were also treated for shock following a blast bomb attack on a house in nearby Alliance Avenue, right on the peaceline between loyalists and nationalists.

Pipe and petrol bombs were later seized at a derelict house in Glenbryn, where residents have staged protests against Catholic parents escorting children to Holy Cross since the start of term in September.

Earlier in the day, two people were arrested as loyalists scuffled with security forces on the last day of school before a Halloween break which mediators are hoping will provide crucial breathing space to resolve the crisis.

Ulster Unionist Assembly member Pauline Armitage indicated that she was not ready to accept the IRA's move on decommissioning as sufficient.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I had a meeting with David Trimble yesterday. I accept arms were destroyed, but we have no idea of the numbers.

"I said to Mr Trimble, 'Do we now have a programme for the continuation of the destruction of weapons?' and he said 'No'.

"I would have thought if weapons are finally to be removed from Northern Ireland by February 2002, we should have had a programme. That is what we need to put confidence back into those people living in north Belfast.

"We have a programme for every other part of the Belfast Agreement and yet the most important part to the Unionist community, to bring back confidence, is decommissioning, and we have no programme.

"I have to accept Gerry Adams' and Martin McGuinness's word. I don't have that faith or confidence in Sinn Fein/IRA."