Protesters target a bus

More Violence in Northern Ireland

Sinn Fein leaders had appealed to nationalists to avoid violence, arguing that it would distract public attention from the handling by the Government and the police of the Portadown Orange parade.

Terrorist gunfire rang out in the nationalist Ardoyne enclave of north Belfast as gangs of youths hijacked cars and set them alight. Shots were also fired at an Army barracks not far away.

On the Garvaghy Road in Portadown - the scene of Sunday's contentious Orange parade - a terrorist with a shotgun used petrol-bombers for cover and opened fire, hitting a policeman in the arm and leg. His injuries are said to be not life-threatening.

In Londonderry and Strabane, police fired volleys of plastic bullets as they came under sustained petrol bomb attacks. Petrol bombs were also thrown at several Orange halls across Northern Ireland.

In west Belfast, six people claiming to be loyalist terrorists posed for camera crews, showing off their assault rifles.

Martin McGuinness: claims to have been attacked by police

In Bellaghy, troops and police -- whose lines had been breached -- were pelted with bricks. Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, said he was hit on the head by a police baton.

The RUC has released figures detailing the violence since Saturday night. There were 776 attacks on the security forces, 1,444 petrol bombings and 363 hijackings. Some 60 police officers and 49 civilians were injured, and the security forces fired 2,400 plastic bullets.

Among more than 100 people injured during the last 48 hours was a 14-year-old Catholic boy who remains in a coma after being hit in the head by a plastic bullet during rioting in west Belfast.

Five people remain in hospital following the rioting in Londonderry on Sunday night, including a 16-year-old boy hit on the head with a stone during an attack by youths on the security forces. He was described as being "ill but stable" by a spokeswoman at Altnagelvin Hospital.