GAA team targeted in security alert

Police in Northern Ireland are treating a bomb alert at a community centre where a GAA team was training last night as a sectarian…

Police in Northern Ireland are treating a bomb alert at a community centre where a GAA team was training last night as a sectarian attack.

Police lifted an overnight security cordon this morning around the Stiles community centre, where the St Comgall’s GAA Club members were targeted.

Officers said today they found two “crude, non-viable devices” and described the attack as sectarian.They warned members of the public not to approach any other suspicious devices.

Loyalists are suspected of planting the bombs.

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Antrim mayor Adrian Watson condemned the incident and revealed the players inadvertently walked past the devices as they were evacuated.

“There is no justification at all for this," he said. “The local club are entitled to use whatever facilities they want, it’s a community centre, it’s open to all.

“It’s in a mixed community and it (the attack) is a disgrace, especially since last week we had the bombing of the young PSNI officer.”

He told the BBC: “A very small minority of groups from both sides of the community seem intent on violence.”