Alerts in Armagh and Antrim

A beer keg packed with 40kg of home-made explosives was uncovered under a railway bridge in County Armagh on Friday, sparking a 36-hour security alert.

Either of two breakaway IRA groups is thought to have planted the bomb at the railway line in Lurgan,

Sinn Fein condemned the group responsible as being “motivated by ego trips”.

The Dublin-Belfast rail line has long presented a target for attack by physical-force republicans.

British army bomb experts carried out a number of controlled explosions on the Tullydagan road in Lurgan, and the rail line was closed for several hours.

Kieran Corr, an independent member of Craigavon Borough Council, said the frequent attacks on the railway line were “pointless”.

“They keep attacking the railway line and their aspiration is an all-Ireland but the only true all-Ireland link we do have is this railway line,” he said.

John O’Dowd, the Sinn Fein assembly member for the area, said those involved “have no care for this community.”

“They are motivated by ego trips and a belief in a system that is long since past. “It is time these people moved on.”

Meanwhile, a vehicle containing a pipe bomb and flammable liquid is thought to have remained untouched in County Antrim for over a year.

The vehicle had been parked in the long-stay car park near Belfast Airport, but only received attention from British forces and media this weekend.

Urgent Appeal