Dissident republicans plant huge Ulster bomb

A massive bomb was defused in Northern Ireland yesterday. Army experts estimated the device, planted outside the village of Forkhill, close to the South Armagh border, contained around 600lb of home-made explosives. A command wire led from the roadside where it was planted to a firing point across the border.

Dissident republicans were being blamed for planting the bomb and police branded those responsible "reckless" and said they did not care who they might have killed had it been detonated.

The Irish army and police mounted a security operation in the Irish Republic while an army bomb disposal expert made the device safe. The remnants were taken away for forensic examination.

Police launched a major investigation and have urged anyone with information to talk to them.

Newry and Mourne police commander Chief Inspector Sam Cordner said: "There could have been a devastating outcome to this incident. The actions of terrorist criminals in planting this device in the Forkhill area put local people and police officers at significant risk. Their actions were reckless and dangerous in the extreme. Their target may have been the police, but they did not care who they killed or injured."