ARMY Technical Officers have dealt with a pipe bomb device found during an overnight security alert in east Belfast.

The PSNI say officers were called to Island Street at around 1.40 am off the Newtownards Road,

It followed a report that a suspicious object had been discovered lying in the street.

An ATO unit based at Palace Barracks in Holywood, Co Down, examined the object and declared it to be a “viable pipe bomb-type device”.

Fortunately, no residents had to be evacuated from their homes while ATO examined the device.

The area was declared safe around 6 am when the operation to defuse the device ended.