Up to twenty shots have been fired towards police officers in north Belfast, an RUC spokeswoman said tonight.
The shots were thought to have come from the nationalist Newington Street area towards Halliday's Road in the New Lodge area of the city.
The spokeswoman said there were no reports of any injuries.
A number of RUC officers were investigating a report that a suspicious object had been thrown into the rear yard of a Catholic-owned home in Drumcairn Gardens when they came under attack.