The RUC believes loyalists are responsible for a bomb planted in an Antrim town today.
British army bomb disposal experts were called in to defuse a device found in a car at Castle Street, Ballycastle, Co Antrim.
It was the second day of the Oul Lammas Fair - one of Northern Ireland's top tourist draws.
The streets of the seaside town were crowded with tourists when the alarm was raised this morning after a telephone warning. The RUC evacuated the area and called in the army.
A senior RUC officer said: "It was madness putting a bomb in such a crowded area. It is hard to believe".
A British army source said the device comprised two gas cylinders, a detonator and a timer and was found by a routine police patrol at 10 a.m. The source said the timer had been set.
A Belfast newsroom received a telephone call shortly afterwards about the device.
PA
