Viable letter bomb found at NI sorting office

Army bomb squad deals with package discovered in Newtownabbey

A suspicious package found at a sorting office in Northern Ireland was a viable letter bomb, police said.

A spokeswoman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said: "Police are currently attending a security alert following the discovery of a suspicious package at the postal sorting office in Mallusk Road, Newtownabbey."

Army technical officers were tasked to the scene.

The police spokeswoman said it was declared “a viable letter bomb type device”.

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Meanwhile, the PSNI  and the Orange Order have expressed guarded hope that this evening's contentious parade in north Belfast will conclude relatively peacefully. There is also qualified optimism that overall the Twelfth of July will be relatively trouble-free.

A decision announced by the order yesterday that it will not engage in a standoff with the PSNI at the police lines halting the return Orange parade on the top of Woodvale Road in north Belfast this evening has helped defuse some of the tensions around the Twelfth.

The PSNI nonetheless is planning a major security operation, particularly in north Belfast, so that it can be prepared for most eventualities.