Continuity IRA blamed for bomb

Device partially exploded before bomb experts arrived

The police are blaming the Continuity IRA for a bomb left in a van in Belfast city centre.

Army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion on the vehicle which was abandoned in the middle of Franklin Street on Friday morning.

But Chief Inspector Bill Brown, of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said the device partially exploded before the area had been completely evacuated.

Police said the bomb - a pipe bomb-type device attached to fuel containers - would have caused a "massive fireball" if it had detonated fully.

Chief Inspector Bill Brown: "Warnings totally inadequate"

Meanwhile, the police cordoned off several other areas of Belfast city centre on Friday afternoon after more telephone bomb warnings. But they were declared hoaxes.

The Continuity IRA is one of two dissident republican paramilitary groups opposed to the peace process which have carried out a number of bomb and gun attacks on civilians and the security forces over the last five years.

There is believed to be cross-over and co-operation between the Continuity IRA and the larger Real IRA, which bombed Omagh in 1998 killing 29 people and injuring hundreds more.

Police criticised the bomb warning telephoned to several newsrooms.

Chief Inspector Brown said: "The warning we received was totally inadequate to clear an area of this size.

"Only for the swift action of my officers things would have turned out differently."

Chief Inspector Brown said the white van was hijacked in Carrigart Avenue, in the strongly nationalist Andersonstown area west Belfast by a number of masked men armed with a handgun, earlier on Friday.

It was left near Windsor House, one of Belfast's tallest office blocks, on Franklin Street.

Hijacked

Eyewitnesses reported hearing a muffled explosion coming from the van shortly before army bomb disposal experts arrived at the scene at about 1100 BST.

Chief Inspector Brown praised the courage of his officers who helped to evacuate shops and offices in Bedford Street, Clarence Street, Franklin Street and McClintock Street.

Army bomb disposal experts dealt with the device

West Belfast SDLP assembly member Alex Attwood condemned those who left the Bedford Street device.

He said: "As with previous incidents, the paramilitaries showed a complete disregard for the citizens of Belfast and complete contempt for the democratic wishes of the people of Ireland.

"The people of Belfast have always stood against these activities and they will continue to do so."

On Monday, a number of bomb warnings caused major traffic disruption throughout the Belfast.

Last weekend, an apparent split in the Real IRA came to a head when Real IRA prisoners in a Portlaoise jail issued a statement calling on the organisation's leadership to stand down.

But the police and security services have been warning in recent months that both the Real IRA and other dissident groups pose a growing threat.