Loyalist paramilitaries warned they would step up their terror campaign after a series of incidents throughout Northern Ireland today.
A pipe bomb was left at offices used by Sinn Féin’s Mr Martin McGuinness in Cookstown Co Tyrone, a booby trap device was planted under a former republican prisoner's van in Armagh city, and a caller claimed a number of bombs had been left at GAA grounds between Coleraine and Cookstown.
The RUC cleared around 40 buildings near the office of Mr McGuinness - who is on holiday - in the Burn Road area of Cookstown.
A crude pipe bomb was found and destroyed by British army explosives experts. A group calling itself the Loyalist Action Force claimed responsibility.
In Armagh a mercury tilt switch had been fitted to the device found under the vehicle in Ashley Avenue. The RUC said it believed it was the first time one of these type of booby trap bombs has been used in Northern Ireland for sometime.
Another loyalist paramilitary faction claimed it had planted the bombs in Cookstown and Armagh and warned its campaign would increase.
In a statement to UTV, the Red Hand Defenders - used in the past as a cover name for both the Ulster Defence Association and the Loyalist Volunteer Force - said it had planted two anti-personnel devices.
This morning, a caller to a local newspaper in the North claimed explosive devices had been left at GAA grounds between Coleraine and Cookstown.
An RUC spokeswoman said this alert was now over.
Sinn Féin’s chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin said the incidents showed the UDA’s ceasefire was now over.
He claimed the organisation was mounting a fresh campaign against Catholics.
PA