A booby trap bomb was found under a soldier’s car in the North today. Dissident Republicans are being blamed for planting the device which failed to detonate.

It is thought the device was planted on the car when it was parked at the army barracks where the soldier is stationed. It was discovered when he was about to leave his home in Bangor Co. Down.

After the discovery several houses where evacuated in the Chatsworth area of Bangor when bomb experts carried out a series of controlled explosives.

The PSNI continue to investigate Monday’s car bomb attack outside a police station on the city’s Strand Road.

Speaking about the latest incident, Peter Weir, a Bangor resident and a Democratic Unionist Party member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, said “I have no doubt that, by their actions, the criminals are trying to send a message that they can come in to a law-abiding and peaceful part of Northern Ireland in order to peddle their own brand of evil. They are mistaken.

“I know that the police are working hard to stamp out the threat posed by these sectarian murderers and I urge anyone who has information on their activities to come forward and share it with the police.

“What we are dealing with here is a crazed bunch of fanatics who will stop at nothing in their attempts to drag Northern Ireland back in to violence and bloodshed. They must be crushed.”