British army bomb disposal officers have dealt with a series of devices in the North. Two alerts, apparently caused by the "Real IRA", brought traffic chaos to Derry city yesterday evening. The Cityside was temporarily cut off from the Waterside after the Foyle and Craigavon bridges were closed. Motorists wishing to drive between the two parts of the city had to follow a 30-mile diversion via Strabane.
A local newspaper had received a telephone warning of a bomb on the Belfast to Derry railway line. The warning was accompanied by a code word previously used by the "Real IRA".
Police closed the Foyle Bridge after a suspicious object was found on the railway line under the bridge. The bridge was expected to remain closed until today.
Both decks of the Craigavon Bridge were closed to traffic after a suspect device was found on the lower deck. The bridge was reopened shortly after 6.30 p.m. following a controlled explosion.
Security forces defused pipe bombs at two GAA grounds last night. Army technical experts made safe the devices planted at Boleran GAA club, Garvagh, Co Derry, and Gulladuff GAA club, near Maghera Co Derry. The bombs were discovered by members of the public several hours after the RUC warned that devices may have been planted at GAA clubs in Co Tyrone and Co Derry.
Meanwhile, a loyalist group has said it left a pipe bomb at the constituency office of Sinn Fein MP Mr Martin McGuinness yesterday morning. The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used by the UDA and the LVF, also claimed responsibility for a bomb attached to the van of a former republican prisoner in Armagh city.
Army technical officers described the device found at Mr McGuinness's office in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, as "a crude pipe bomb". Around 30 homes were evacuated following the discovery of the device in the office letter-box yesterday morning.