Belfast Bomb Alert 'Viable Trap'

The North's police have said that a device, found at Annadale Embankment in south Belfast on Tuesday, was a bomb and was "viable".

The news came after part of Annadale Avenue was closed off early today when the suspect object was discovered.

Army technical officers were called to the scene at about 1.30am and while no homes were evacuated road closures were put in place from Mornington Place to Wellington Square, in modern housing on the site of the former Annadale Grammar School.

The police have since said the device, which was attached to a stile at the top of a path leading to the Lagan, may have been a trap to lure officers into a bomb trap, but may have been foiled by the use of the PSNI helicopter that monitored signs of disturbance to the terrain from overhead while police on the ground moved in very carefully.

Superintendent Chris Noble said today that they had received a call from a man on a mobile phone at around 11.50pm on Monday night to say a woman was in distress in a wooded area of the Annadale Embankment.

No woman was found by police who attended the scene, however, a device was discovered attached to a gate.

Diversions are still in place at the Ormeau Road/Annadale Embankment junction and also at the Annadale Embankment/Governor's Bridge junction.

NI Policing Board member, Sinn Fein's Alex Maskey, the outgoing MLA for South Belfast, has condemned those responsible.

"This alert has done nothing but cause untold disruption to the daily lives of people living in the area.

"Those responsible have put countless lives at risk in what can only be described as a reckless and futile exercise. They continue to offer no rational for these futile attacks.

"The community continue to reject them and they should stop what they are doing before someone else does lose their lives," he fumed.

(BMcC)