A BOMB that could have caused "carnage" has been found close to the venue for this summer's G8 conference of global leaders in Northern Ireland.
The device – about 60 kg of homemade explosives contained in a beer keg – was made safe after being discovered in an abandoned car in Co. Fermanagh, just 16 miles from the exclusive Lough Erne golf resort that will host this year's summit.
World leaders including US President Barack Obama, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian president Vladimir Putin are expected to attend the gathering in June.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) speculated that the bomb was probably intended to attack a nearby police station.
There is already a heavy security presence in the area, with thousands of police officers from UK forces due to be drafted in for the summit.
Dissident republicans opposed to the peace process and responsible for a series of previous shootings and bombings are prime suspects.
PSNI district commander Pauline Shields said: "The people responsible for this have no regard for the lives of anyone in our community.
"It is fortunate that no-one was killed or seriously injured as a result of this reckless act. Once again our community has been disrupted and the lives of residents put at risk by an element intent on causing loss of life and disruption."
DUP Stormont MLA Arlene Foster said those responsible were intent on taking life, with nearby Lisnaskea police station located in a built-up area with homes and churches nearby.
"Had this bomb been detonated in that locality there would have been carnage," she warned.
The security alert began when officers received a report of an abandoned car on the Derrylin Road in Enniskillen, close to the border with the Republic of Ireland. Residents near the scene of the alert were evacuated from their homes and Army technical officers carried out a clearance operation on the car.
Republican sources said last night that the G8 would be an unlikely target even for dissidents.
Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers condemned those behind the incident.
"Those responsible for it have neither mandate nor legitimacy; they are totally out of touch with what the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland want," she said.
"Acts like this only serve to strengthen our resolve against those terrorists who have nothing to offer Northern Ireland except mayhem and destruction."
Dissident republicans have so far murdered two soldiers, two policemen and a prison guard in their campaign of violence.
A week ago officers discovered a mortar-type device aimed towards New Barnsley police station in north Belfast.
Three officers also escaped injury when an explosive device detonated within metres of them as they patrolled a coastal path on the outskirts of Belfast.
Earlier this month two men were arrested after police intercepted a van carrying four mortar bombs that were primed and ready to fire at a police station in Londonderry.
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