A MOTHER of four was shot dead in Belfast yesterday during a terrorist

attack on a security patrol.

Mrs Isobel Leyland, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, who was

visiting her elderly mother, was hit in the back by a bullet when a gang

sprayed Flax Street in the Ardoyne area with gunfire. A man in his 60s

was hit in the arm.

The terrorists' target was a joint Army and police patrol. One bullet

struck a Land-Rover but no-one was hurt.

Mrs Leyland, 41, had been due to return to England last night after a

10-day visit.

Her husband, Brian, flew to Northern Ireland last night with their

children, John, 21, Gerard, 18, Catherine, 14, and Rebecca, 12.

At the family home in Whitworth, Rochdale, friend Paul Jones said:

''The sad thing is that Isobel left Northern Ireland because of the

troubles.''

Police in Belfast said gunmen took over a house in JamaicaStreet and

mounted their attack from a bedroom window from a range of 150 yards.

The IRA is thought to have been responsible. Earlier this month, the

IRA killed a soldier in a similar ambush.

Two men were admitted to hospital in Belfast last night after each was

shot in the right leg in what appeared to be a terrorist punishment

shooting. Police said the men were shot in a loyalist area in the west

of the city.