Five Wounded By Gunmen In Northern Ireland

Gunmen wounded three British soldiers and two police at a checkpoint in north Belfast late Friday, police said, in an attack on the eve of Protestant marches throughout Northern Ireland.

Hospital official said none of the injuries was life-threatening.

Official details were sketchy, but residents of the Catholic enclave of Ardoyne, a bastion of support for the outlawed Irish Republican Army, said about 20 shots were fired at the checkpoint. The attackers also threw a grenade at the security forces before speeding away.

Earlier Friday, gunmen fired at a Protestant gathering in north Belfast, hitting an 18-year-old man in the leg and scattering the crowd.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack, which came after Northern Ireland’s main Protestant fraternal group, the Orange Order, made an unprecedented conciliatory gesture to Catholics by agreeing to cancel or reroute four marches today that Catholic militants had vowed to block.

Many enraged members of the main Protestant organization vowed to defy their leaders’ decision, calling it a betrayal, and said they would gather as planned in Belfast, Londonderry, Newry and Armagh.

A march last Sunday by the Orange Order - an all-male Pro-British Protestant association - sparked three nights of rioting in Catholic areas across Northern Ireland.