Shopkeepers in the North were warned to be on guard after incendiary bombers caused millions of pounds of damage in attacks on shops in Newry, Co Down, early yesterday.
Nine stores were damaged, four extensively, when fire broke out in the early hours. Police warned that other devices might lie unexploded in other premises and that the bombers could strike again anywhere in the North
A team of detectives has been set up to investigate and, while police said it was too early to say who was responsible, dissident republicans were top suspects.
At the scene of the attacks, PSNI Chief Insp Gary Hagan said it had been "a co-ordinated attack which had required considerable planning".
Stores belonging to high street names such as MFI, T K Maxx and Carpet Right, were extensively damaged. Others, such as B&Q, Land of Leather, Currys, Harveys Furniture and Dunnes Stores, suffered less extensive damage.
Nearly 150 firefighters using 26 appliances were sent to the city from various parts of Northern Ireland to tackle the fires which were centred on the Damolly Retail Park and Merchants Quay areas, a mile apart. Fire crews were still damping down the premises yesterday.
Yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of the introduction of internment without trial when hundreds of men were arrested in nationalist areas and detained without being formally charged.