Army technical officers defused a pipe bomb device left at a primary school in Twinbrook

DISSIDENT republicans are being blamed for leaving a deadly pipe bomb near a primary school in Belfast on Wednesday.

The device was discovered near the school in Summerhill Drive in Twinbrook around noon.

Police evacuated eight homes while Army technical officers examined what was describes as a “suspicious” object.

Following several hours at the scene, the AT defused the device and declared it a viable pipe bomb.

The area was declared safe and all residents have been allowed home.

Roads in the area have also reopened.

Meanwhile, an alert in Ballyclare near the local police station was declared an elaborate hoax.

ATO carried out a controlled explosion on the object which was found on the Ballynure Road on Wednesday morning.

A number of homes were evacuated during the alert. Residents have now returned and the Ballynure Road has also reopened.

Local UUP MLA Danny Kinahan condemned those responsible for the Ballyclare alert.

“They are a menace to society and plainly oblivious to the hurt and inconvenience which they have caused to the Ballyclare community,” he said.

“Local people have been moved out of their homes, children going to school have been put at risk and local businesses affected.

“Those who are to blame for this don’t care about people going to work or children trying to get an education,” added the south Antrim MLA.

There were a spate of alert across greater Belfast on Tuesday.

A beer keg was found in the back of a stolen people carrier which had been abandoned on Hillview Road in north Belfast.

And a flask was found in a hedge near Redburn Country Park just a stone’s throw from MI5’s HQ inside Palace Barracks, Holywood, Co Down.

Both were declared hoaxes.

However, a pipe bomb was found close to a Territorial Army base on the Malone Road in south Belfast.

It was defused by ATO and taken away for forensic examination.