A shop worker has foiled a fire-bomb attack in a Co Down shop, the latest in a spate of incendiary attacks on retail outlets across Northern Ireland this month.
The police and the public fear the discovery of another fire-bomb, the 14th over the Christmas period, points to a protracted campaign by dissident paramilitaries.
The small, cassette-type device, described by the PSNI as "viable", was found in a fleece jacket at a branch of JJB sportswear retailers in a Newry retail park at the close of business on Monday.
British army technicians were called in to make the fire-bomb safe. They took the device for further examination and declared the area clear late on Monday night.
The PSNI praised the vigilance of staff at the shop. Insp Ronnie Neill said: "The member of staff may well have prevented the loss of jobs or even lives," he said. "This reckless attack was carried out without regard for lives, property or jobs."
He urged businesses to be vigilant and to search their premises.
Police are linking the attacks to dissident republicans opposed to the peace process. For shop-owners and the public, the attacks are reminiscent of the 1970s, when simple incendiary devices caused havoc in town centres.
At that time, fire-bombers evaded detection in many main streets, despite security checks at the doors of major shops, the pedestrianisation of city centres and the associated presence of civilian searchers at checkpoints ringing the main shopping centre in Belfast.
The devices favoured by paramilitaries then were small, simple and effective. Components could be purchased by anyone in a supposedly secure shopping area who had passed security checks with nothing suspicious in their pockets. Fire-bombers could assemble and plant the devices before again passing through security barriers.
Devices were often timed to explode overnight, which meant fires were often well established before emergency services were alerted.
The latest wave of fire bombings has seen attacks in large stores in Lisburn, Newtownabbey and Ballymena in Co Antrim, Derry, and now in Newry.
The disruption caused by the attacks has been compounded by a wave of hoax alerts in Belfast and Lisburn city centres.
In one of the largest fires recently, the B&Q superstore at Sprucefield just off the M1 near Lisburn was extensively damaged before Christmas.
More than 100 firefighters spent several hours to get the fire under control. The rest of the store, which opened earlier this year, was damaged by smoke and water from the sprinkler system.