Warning over 'flare' attacks

A flare type device was found at a GAA club in west Belfast

The police are warning of the possibility of further attacks by paramilitaries using stolen distress flares as devices following two incidents in the past week.

The first device was found on Sunday at the gates of a Gaelic Athletic sports club on the Upper Springfield Road in west Belfast.

It was discovered as children were playing on a nearby pitch.

On Monday, a device constructed with a flare was left at a house in the west of the city.

Both were made safe by army technical officers.

It is believed the flares were among 80 stolen in Dunmurry, on the outskirts of south Belfast last year.

The police are appealing for anyone with information about the whereabouts of the other stolen flares to come forward.

These are powerful items designed and manufactured to save lives but now being adapted by terrorists to kill and maim indiscriminately Brendan McGuigan Chief Superintendent

Chief Superintendent Brendan McGuigan said the flares, which could kill, were being used "quite cynically".

"These things were designed and manufactured to save lives," he said.

"They are designed to shoot a powerful light over 1,000 metres into the air and be seen for miles around - but pointed at someone at close range the effects would be deadly.

"The people who are using them have absolutely no respect or concern for who may be affected by these things. It is totally indiscriminate, it could be a child or an adult."

Mr McGuigan expressed fear that the flares could be used by loyalists in a renewed campaign directed at the nationalist community.

"While they were crude booby trap devices they would have been extremely effective.

"These are powerful items designed and manufactured to save lives but now being adapted by terrorists to kill and maim indiscriminately."