Violent clashes in the North

The RUC has condemned the people behind the planting of what is believed

to have been a car bomb in Portadown.

Army technical officers had to be called in to help diffuse the bomb, which did contain quantities of commercial explosives.

The device was found attached to a car that was parked in a residential area close to a local church.

The RUC say that if the bomb had exploded it could have caused serious injury or death.

Elsewhere violence flared in the North during an Orange march in north Belfast.

Loyalist and Nationalist youths hurled stones and missiles at each other

until the RUC intervened as two Orange Lodges returned from the main part

of the 'Tour of the North' parade, which is traditionally seen as the start

of the summer marching season.

No one was injured in the rioting and there were no reports of any other sections of the parade coming under attack.