Bombs found on school roof

The police said the bombs were crude, but deadly

A primary school and adjoining nursery school in east Belfast were evacuated following the discovery of six nail bombs on its roof.

The devices were found by a teacher who noticed them on the roof of Beechfield School off Templemore Avenue at about 1000 GMT on Thursday morning.

About 160 pupils and children from the McArthur Nursery School were brought to safety to the Ballymac Friendship Centre on the Newtownards Road, to be collected by their parents.

Army bomb disposal officers were called to the mainly loyalist area to deal with the devices.

The police said they believed the crude bombs appeared to have been on the roof of the school for some time before being discovered.

They said they were potentially lethal and could have caused a tragedy at the school.

Councillor Jim Rodgers: Condemnation after devices found

East Belfast Ulster Unionist councillor Jim Rodgers condemned those responsible for leaving the devices.

Mr Rodgers - who is vice-chairman of the Belfast Education and Library Board - said that there had been many problems over the years at this interface.

"On this occasion, considerable disruption had been caused to the children's education as they had to be sent home,'' he said.

He paid tribute to the principals, staff, parents and the local community for getting the pupils out of the building so quickly.

David Ervine, assembly member for the Progressive Unionist Party, which is linked to the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force, said whoever left the devices should feel "ashamed".

Sinn Fein representative for the area Joe O'Donnell said he had been told the devices were similar to those, which had been used recently by loyalist paramilitaries.

West Belfast alert

Meanwhile, the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Fein have blamed the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association for leaving a suspect device at a house in north Belfast.

The householder was reversing out of the house on Holmdean Drive in the mainly nationalist Ardoyne area, when a black box fell off his car roof onto the ground on Thursday morning.

Army technical officers carried out a controlled explosion on the object

Sinn Fein's north Belfast assembly member Gerry Kelly said it was a blatantly sectarian attack.

He said the man who owns the vehicle had no republican connections and was not a political activist.