Man held after suspect devices found in Derry

BELFAST: A man has been arrested after two suspect devices were found outside houses in Londonderry on Sunday morning.

Residents in several properties were evacuated while an area close to the city’s police station on Strand Road was among those affected by the disruption. The 39-year-old suspect was detained in the city and taken to a Belfast police station for questioning, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said.

Nationalist SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: “Those responsible for dragging families out of their homes onto the street on Easter Sunday morning are nothing but thugs. It’s well past time these faceless cowards went away and got off the backs of the people in Derry. Derry is a wonderful city filled to the brim with talent and hardworking people trying to get on in life — yet these ‘hoods’ think they can drag us back and continue to limit the opportunities for our people.”

No link to terrorism or the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in the city on Thursday evening is being suggested. During Sunday’s alert a section of the Strand Road was closed to traffic. Police later confirmed alerts on Insicarn Road and Harty Court have ended.

Suspicious objects discovered in both areas have been examined by ammunition technical officers who declared them to be non-viable devices. They have now been removed for further examination. Two other alerts, on Strand Road and in Moss Park, remain ongoing.