Heavy weaponry was used in a suspected dissident republican gun attack on police officers in west Belfast, a senior officer has revealed.

A former police officer and his 12-year-old daughter have escaped uninjured after a booby trap bomb was discovered in Belfast.

A British Army major who escaped a dissident republican murder bid when a booby trap bomb fell off his car without detonating is lucky to be alive, police said today.

A tense armed forces homecoming parade passed off without incident in Belfast today where police mounted a huge security operation to keep apart thousands of loyalist supporters and republican protestors.