Northern Ireland: Defused bomb ‘would have caused devastation’

Two bombs planted in Northern Ireland by militant nationalists were defused on Saturday, said the police, according to Reuters.

One of the bombs which was left in an abandoned vehicle in Newry was 600 pounds and was packed with enough explosives to have killed anyone in a 50-yard radius.

Chief Superintendent Alasdair Robinson said, "The device contained two blue barrels with 125 kilograms of homemade explosives in each one, and a detonator – all the equipment which meant this device was ready to go," according to AFP. He added, "If this had exploded it would have caused devastation."

The Guardian noted that the bomb was 200 pounds bigger than the explosive device which devastated Omagh, the single largest attack in Northern Ireland which claimed the lives of 29 people in 1998.

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The bomb is suspected to have been assembled by former Provisional IRA "engineers" said the Guardian, dissidents who broke from the main IRA.

The police rejected criticism of the safety of people driving on the road where the bomb was left, said the BBC, with Robinson stating, "There was some residual traffic following the closures and, while we made the public aware of the road closures and advised them to avoid the area, a few cars ignored our advice."

He added, "We do everything in our power to protect human life."

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Another bomb was defused by the army on Saturday, which was found under a car in Belfast, causing nearly 80 people to be evacuated from their homes overnight, said Reuters.

The AFP noted that dissident republicans who opposed the power-sharing peace deal inked in 1998 have been held responsible for many bomb attacks in Newry in recent years.

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