Security alert near Belfast ends as police find pipe bombs

Two pipe bombs have been discovered by a police patrol in the North.

They were found in a lay-by at Nutts Corner, Co Antrim, yesterday.

Army technical officers were called and made the devices safe. They have been taken away for forensic examination.

On Friday a former policeman and his 12-year-old daughter escaped death or serious injury after he thwarted a booby trap car bomb attack in Northern Ireland.

The ex-officer discovered the device attached to the under-side of his vehicle as he was about to drive his daughter to school in east Belfast.

Dissident republicans opposed to the peace process have been blamed for the murder bid, with the PSNI revealing the un-detonated explosive bore “striking similarities” to other car bombs planted by the extremist groups in the past.

It was found by the former officer, who left the service a number of years ago, as he performed a routine security check on his vehicle outside his home on Kingsway Park in the Tullycarnet area of Dundonald.