'Small fireball' fired at police station
POLICE were forced to fire baton rounds to quell dissident republican-inspired rioting in Craigavon last night in which a mortar was fired at a nearby police station.
Heavy masonry was hurled at officers in what police described as a "sustained attack".
The rioting, in the Brownlow area of the town, was brought to an end by officers by about 1am this morning.
Police said that in line with protocol, the Police Ombudsman had been asked to investigate because officers had fired three baton rounds during the disturbances.
Meanwhile, detectives are investigating a mortar device which missed a PSNI barracks in the town at about 7.30pm. No one is believed to have been injured.
A policeman who saw the mortar described it as a "small fireball".
Almost a year ago PSNI officer Stephen Carroll a policeman was murdered by the Continuity IRA not far from the scene of last night's attack, in what is increasingly known for being a hotbed of dissident republican activity.
A suspect device which was eventually declared a hoax was also reported to police at 3pm yesterday afternoon on the Tullygalley Road, near the Meadow Bank and Drumbeg estates.
However, although police sealed off the area when made aware of the threat, officers did not investigate until after 10pm out of fear that it was a trap to murder them.
Upper Bann DUP MP David Simpson said the attack was part of an escalation in violence across the Province
"It is certainly very reckless coming on the back of what's happened in Keady (in south Armagh) and Newry," he said.
Sinn Fein assembly member John O'Dowd said: "This attack was wrong and should not have been carried out.
"I would challenge those who claim to speak politically for these factions to tell the republican and nationalist community exactly how these sorts of activities, or indeed the recent murder in Derry advance the cause of a united Ireland one iota."
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Weather for Belfast
Sunday 27 May 2012
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Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
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