News

Police hunt bomb a fortnight after alert

POlIce were last night searching for a bomb which may have been planted near a south Armagh village two weeks ago. Officers combed roads around cullyhanna yesterday - a fortnight after a telephone warning sparked a bomb alert close to the village. Police received reports on August 14 that a device had been left on the listrum Road in cullyhanna following telephone warnings to several news outlets.

However, such a road does not exist and nothing was found during police searches.

Yesterday, police used sniffer dogs and metal detectors to search roads and verges around the village again. Officers searched for a possible device on the lisleitrim Road for several hours. The road was reopened last night and the Sheetrim Road was closed between the junctions of Bog Road and Kiltybane Road. Sinn Fein councillor colman Burns said he was concerned a device may have been in the area for several weeks. "It is very worrying that if there is a bomb, people could have been driving past it for two weeks," he said. "They have been searching all day and the helicopters are up." He said householders in the area had been told of the alert but no one had been evacuated.