Chaos as Belfast hit by bomb alerts

Belfast was hit by a wave of bomb alerts today which caused major disruption in the city centre.

Army bomb disposal experts were working on a bus at Wellington Place after two armed men boarded the vehicle in the Falls Road and planted a suspect package on board.

The area was sealed off causing traffic chaos throughout the centre of the city.

The main Castle Court shopping centre in Royal Avenue was evacuated after a caller to a local newspaper said a bomb had been planted.

A search was also mounted at Belfast International Airport after a telephone caller claimed a bomb had been left in a vehicle in the main car park.

An airport spokeswoman said flights were not disrupted.

In Co Armagh part of the centre of Lurgan was evacuated following the discovery of a suspect object on waste ground.

The alerts followed a bomb attack on a police station in Co Tyrone yesterday in which a coffee jar bomb packed around with shrapnel was thrown over the perimeter wall of the police base in Castlederg but failed to explode.