The scene of the security alert in Belfast City Centre on Friday evening

THE security alert in Belfast city centre has ended.

A suspicious bag was found on Friday evening in the Post Office premises at the junction of Bridge Street and High Street.

However, police say it was entirely innocent and had been left unattended.

Police had cordoned off the area and Army technical officers are at the scene examining the object.

Bridge Street, High Street and Donegall Street have now reopened.

Earlier this week a dissident republican bomb suspect was set alight by an incendiary bomb device which detonated prematurely as he was about to go into a golf shop in Cornmarket.

And last Friday 1,000 revellers were forced to flee bus and restaurants in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter a small bomb detonated at Exchange Street West.