Bomb Alert Sparks Westlink Chaos

There was traffic chaos in Belfast yesterday evening as a security alert sparked by the discovery of two suspicious devices in south Belfast closed the city's main carriageway for most of the afternoon.

The Westlink was closed in both directions and only re-opened to traffic after army bomb squad officers examined the scene in the Bentham Drive area of the city.

The first suspicious object was found attached to the perimeter fence of Arellian Nursery School at around 11.30am and children were evacuated to a nearby youth club while bomb squad officers examined the device, which was found to be non-suspicious.

Around the same time, in Roden Street, a second suspicious object was found to be component parts of a pipe bomb. Families in a number of homes in the general area and in Iverna Close were affected by the alert.

(BMcC/KMcA)