Three injured in Belfast blast

Royal Ulster Constabulary police in full riot gear block a road in North Belfast, Northern Ireland, Monday to keep rival gangs apart.

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- Three people have been slightly injured in an explosion during another day of rioting between Protestants and Catholics in north Belfast.

It is believed the blast, which happened just before 5:00 p.m. (1600 GMT), was caused by a small, homemade bomb, thrown into the crowd of rioters and detonated on impact.

A 14-year-old boy was taken to hospital with shrapnel wounds, while two others suffered less serious cuts, according to local representatives from republican party Sinn Fein, The Associated Press reported.

Belfast police moved into the area and separated the two sides, who have been rioting for several weeks now.

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The neighbourhood is a common flashpoint for heightened tensions between the two sides.

One eyewitness described the blast to Reuters. "It hit some kid in the back. Then it landed on the ground. It went off and I felt the heat and couldn't hear for a couple of minutes," she said.

Sinn Fein spokeswoman Kathy Stanton said the trouble started when a Protestant mob tried to attack Catholic houses earlier in the day, prompting a crowd to emerge to defend their property.

"When the crowds came out to protect their homes they (the Protestants) threw the blast bomb straight into the middle of the nationalists," she told Reuters.

But Protestant community worker Eddie McClean said the trouble had started when a Catholic mob had gone into a nearby Protestant road armed with baseball bats.

It was only then that the Protestant men appeared on the street, he said.

Ian Crozier, a local Protestant councillor, said there had been an explosion but it had not been established which side threw the bomb.

"As I understand it there was fairly fierce rioting going on," he said.

Police said up to 400 people had gathered near Newington Street, one of several hotspots that has seen rioting during sectarian tension in recent months, and bottles were thrown.

About 20 police Land Rovers rushed to the area and sealed off surrounding streets at the height of the evening rush hour. The road was covered with bricks and broken glass.

The blast came on the same day that members of the Northern Ireland Assembly returned to work following its brief suspension at the weekend.

John Reid, Britain's Northern Ireland secretary, suspended the assembly for 24 hours on Saturday to give the four parties of the ruling coalition more time to resolve their differences.