A large firebomb discovered during a security operation in Belfast could have caused widespread devastation in the city centre, the PSNI said tonight.
Acting Assistant Chief Constable Maggie Hunter said the device would have created a "huge fireball with potentially deadly consequences" had it exploded.
The device consisted of two gas cylinders and two pipe bombs linked to a number of containers full of flammable liquid. A timer device had been attached and activated.
Police Ombudsman Ms Nuala O'Loan is investigating the shooting of a man during the security operation. He was in a stable condition in hospital tonight.
The man was shot twice by officers who sprung a security trap when a car was abandoned outside the city's motor tax offices last night.
Another man was arrested at the scene of the shooting in Franklin Street. It is understood the two men drove in separate cars to Upper Queen Street where the tax offices are located, close to Belfast City Hall at around 6 p.m. yesterday.
One vehicle was left there before the two men, who were under surveillance, left together.
They had reached the next street when police swooped. Officers opened fire, striking one of them in the chest and leg. He was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.
The second man was seized and was still being questioned at Lisburn holding centre in Co Antrim tonight.
Army bomb disposal experts defused the device after carrying out a number of controlled explosions.
A detailed forensic examination of the two vehicles involved in the incident, a blue Ford Orion and a red Vauxhall Nova car, was continuing tonight. Meanwhile, nationalist politicians have asked police to explain why they opened fire.
The attack is the latest in a series of terror strikes on Belfast this year and has been linked to dissident republican group, the Real IRA.