The chairman of the board of governors of a Belfast school where a homemade bomb and arms have been found has said he is appalled by the discovery.
Workmen installing a new heating system made the discovery in a boiler room at the rear of St John the Baptist primary school in Finaghy Road North.
Father Sean McCartney said he was " very annoyed that any people would bring any sort of explosives into a school environment, even if the children are not there". A British army technical officer was called to the scene after a coffee jar device, a detonator and a small quantity of explosives, as well as an improvised shotgun and several cartridges were found in a hold-all at about 12.15 p.m. last Thursday.
It is unclear whether the bag had been stored in the school during the school term, or after the start of the summer holidays. An RUC spokesman said a republican terrorist organisation was probably behind the cache. An SDLP Assembly member, Mr Alex Attwood, said speculation on which paramilitary organisation was responsible was premature. "What is more important is to focus on the fact that whoever did this is creating risk for those most vulnerable in society - children."
The incident was a good example of why the issue of the disposal of illegal weapons should be dealt with, Mr Attwood added.
In a separate incident, a six-year-old boy escaped injury when a petrol bomb was thrown through his bedroom window in his north Belfast home as he slept. The device failed to explode. The RUC said it did not believe the attack at Bleach Green in the Ligoniel area at 4.30 a.m. yesterday was sectarian.
Meanwhile, a 19-year-old man was treated for gunshot wounds to his leg after he was shot in a punishment-style attack. The man was walking along Glenmount Road, Newtownabbey, when he was confronted by two masked males shortly before 10.30 p.m. last Thursday. He was forced to the ground and hooded before being driven to Greenisland where he was shot once in the right leg.