Strabane dissidents gun found during police searches

A gun has been recovered in Strabane by police investigating dissident republican terrorist activity.

Detectives from the PSNI Serious Crime Branch conducted searches in the Melvin Road and Ballycolman Estate area on Tuesday night.

A police spokesman said a suspected firearm was recovered during the search in Melvin Road and had been taken away for forensic examination.

The police operation ended shortly after 2am on Wednesday morning.

The firearm find comes after a mortar bomb was discovered at the weekend in Strabane graveyard.

Stormont politicians condemned the dissident republicans suspected of being behind the device, found in the Townsend Street, Cemetery Road area, which police said was “positioned where it could be used to attack passing police patrols”.

Following a two-day security operation First Minister Peter Robinson said those behind the mortar bomb "had nothing but murder on their mind" and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness described the attempt to kill police officers as "reprehensible".

“Politically those responsible are going nowhere,” Mr McGuinness added.