Bomb 'destined for town centre'

A 500lb bomb that was abandoned underneath the main Belfast to Dublin road was probably destined for a town centre where it would have caused devastation and loss of life, police said yesterday.

The bomb, contained in a wheelie bin, was left in a van parked on an underpass beneath the M1 just south of Newry, Co Armagh.

The driver, thought to belong to a dissident Republican group, is believed to have ditched the vehicle before he ran into a police checkpoint. The Nothern Ireland Police Service has stepped up security checks since last week's murder of Catholic policeman Ronan Kerr.

The bomb was roughly double the size of previous devices that dissidents detonated in Northern Ireland last year. Army bomb disposal experts defused it late on Friday night.

Yesterday, Police Chief Superintendent Alasdair Robinson said the bomb was "properly" constructed but abandoned before it could be detonated. He said it was likely that the attackers stopped short of their intended target because of a police road checkpoint.

He added that the "sophisticated and substantial" explosive device would have caused "huge devastation and loss of life" if it had exploded in a town centre.

Acting Northern Ireland Policing Board chairman, Brian Rea, said the "pure purpose" of the bomb was "death and destruction. The public and political revulsion at the murder of Constable Kerr clearly shows that the people of Northern Ireland do not want any more devastation inflicted on our community and our police service."

Policing Board member Jonathan Bell compared the failed attack to the infamous bombing of Omagh, in Co Tyrone, in which 29 people died in 1998.

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The DUP representative added: "500lbs of explosives were planted to kill and we could have had another example of mass murder on our hands today.

"Just as last week we had many children and families running past the explosive device that robbed our society of the life of a talented young officer, so today we could have had serious fatalities."

The main Belfast to Dublin road was closed early yesterday while police and army dealt with the device. Yet some motorists, who were unwilling to take a diversion ignored the "road closed" signs.

Dissidents have been blamed for killing Constable Kerr, who died when his car was booby-trapped in Omagh, Co Tyrone eight days ago.

Police are continuing to question three suspects, including one who was arrested in Renton, in Scotland.