Buildings cleared after bomb threats

The suspect car was hijacked in north Belfast

Bomb scares disrupted parts of Belfast city centre on Friday night after a series of threats apparently from a hard-line republican splinter group.

Several buildings in the city centre, including the BBC's Belfast office, were evacuated at 2030 BST.

It followed warnings from a group claiming to be the Continuity IRA that several bombs and incendiary devices had been located around the city.

The threats were later declared to be hoaxes but army bomb disposal experts spent more than four hours investigating a suspect vehicle parked at the rear of the BBC building in Ormeau Avenue.

The threats came at a critical time in the Northern Ireland peace process, with Unionists currently debating whether to accept IRA proposals for weapons dump inspections.

The RUC finally declared the red Mondeo safe and removed it just after 0100 BST on Saturday morning after three controlled explosions were carried out. The car was found to contain bags of sand.

The police said the Mondeo had been hijacked in north Belfast by armed and masked men, who forced the driver to take it to the junction of Clarence Street and Linenhall Street, a few yards from the BBC building's rear entrance.

The driver believed a bomb had been left in the car.

Other devices were said to be placed near a cinema and city centre pubs, which were also evacuated.

But these areas were quickly declared safe.

Some callers making the bomb threats did not use official code words and did not say which group they represented.

Parts of the city centre were still cordoned off three hours after the alarm was raised.

Local radio and TV transmissions were temporarily disrupted as a result of the BBC building evacuation.

The Continuity IRA are a hard-line republican splinter group of the Provisional IRA.

They reject any kind of peace deal with the government and the idea that devolved government and power-sharing is the way ahead for Northern Ireland.

The group is alleged to have been involved in the transportation of explosives across the province in recent months.