BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- A mortar attack on the police station damaged about 100 homes in the small market town of Castlederg and forced some 250 families to flee but no one was seriously hurt.
The attack on Castlederg -- in County Tyrone near the border with the Irish Republic -- occurred about 7 p.m.
Widespread damage was reported but only six people, including a policeman, were hurt. A police spokesman described their injuries as minor.
'Most people were probably indoors with the curtains drawn,' a police spokesman said. 'That way they escaped injury from broken windows and falling slates.'
The police station, the local Roman Catholic church and the priest's house were among about 100 properties which suffered 'at least superficial damage' -- shattered windows and dislodged slates, the spokesman said.
The attack came without warning. No one claimed responsibility but the outlawed Irish Republican Army was the prime suspect. It has launched numerous attacks on police stations with homemade mortar launchers.
Last February, 10 police officers were killed in an IRA mortar attack on the police station in the border town of Newry -- the worst single attack against the police in Northern Ireland in 16 years of violent unrest.
Police could not confirm news reports that six mortar devices were fired and that three unexploded shells were found in Castlederg. Most residents recalled only one big explosion. The shells were fired from a van, which was found in a parking lot.
The attack came at a time of political turmoil in the British province.
Sixteen Protestant politicians have resigned their seats in Parliament over an agreement with Dublin giving Ireland a voice in Northern Ireland's affairs.
On Wednesday 27 men were jailed for serious terrorist offenses - convicted because of evidence given by a police informer who is a convicted killer.
The 27 -- members of the Irish National Liberation Army, an IRA splinter group -- vowed a hunger strike and said they would starve to death to protest the trial. One of the 27 began his fast Thursday at Maze prison, officials said. The others were expected to join in at a rate of one a week.
Four years ago, 10 convicted IRA men starved to death in a hunger strike to press for political prisoner status. In those cases, it took about 60 days for the hunger strikers to die.
