Four men arrested by police in Londonderry

Four men are being questioned by police today after incidents in Londonderry believed to be linked to dissident republicans.

The four, all from the west bank of the Foyle in Derry, were being held at Lisburn police station, County Antrim, after two security operations in separate parts of the city.

Police said they made the arrests after stopping a car, which had been acting suspiciously on the Foyle Bridge on Sunday December 2. Suspicious items were also recovered from the vehicle and all four male occupants were arrested.

Meanwhile, a bomb scare on the outskirts of the city on Sunday December 2 has been declared a hoax. The van, which had been hijacked earlier by masked men in the Waterside area of the city, was discovered abandoned on the Craigavon bridge and forced the closure of the Derry to Strabane road. Examination of the vehicle, a white Toyota pickup, revealed that a beer keg contained no explosives.

More than 60 homes were evacuated during the security operation in which residents spent the night in the nearby Everglades Hotel while British army bomb disposal experts examined the vehicle. (AMcE)