Hi °C | Lo °C A suspected bomb has been discovered in Larne at the scene of an earlier explosion that has been linked by police to dissident republicans.
The scene of Wednesday night's blast at Britannia Crescent – which damaged a fence – had been reopened when a suspicious object was discovered in the vicinity yesterday.
A source at the scene reported that two suspect devices and a weapon were found in a bag.
Officers from the Serious Crime Squad confirmed yesterday they had arrested a 23-year-old man in Larne.
Questions were last night being asked of the PSNI over whether it had missed the suspect object while investigating the cause of the earlier explosion.
"I will be calling for an urgent meeting with the local police commanders to see why the area was given the all-clear only for the bomb disposal team to be called back over 12 hours later," said Sinn Fein MLA Oliver McMullan.
After initial inquiries into Wednesday night's blast, the PSNI said yesterday it "may be linked to dissident terrorist activity".
The security alert comes after police discovered a Russian-made rocket launcher in west Belfast during an operation against dissident republicans.
Policing Board member Jonathan Craig said these latest dissident republican-linked events were "deeply worrying developments".
"I have always been of the impression that with so many big events coming to Northern Ireland this year, the dissidents would try and stage some spectacular attack to try and disrupt them.
"These recent developments are clear signs that they are building up to something," he said.
As detectives from the PSNI continued their probe into the security alerts, officers in east Belfast were also investigating the explosion of a "crude device" at an interface.
The incident happened at a house in Kenilworth Place, off the Newtownards Road, on Wednesday evening.
No one was in the house and no one was injured.
Community worker Jim Wilson said residents in the area were angry at the attack.
"It's just another fact of living in an interface that these things happen. But they were pretty angry that an individual house had been selected," he said.
