Deanery damaged in security alert

The Deanery on Bishop Street, which is used by the Church of Ireland's Dean of Derry, suffered damage as a controlled explosion was carried out on a van parked near the city's courthouse.

The alert involved the evacuation of a number of residents in the area and began around 4.30am on Saturday.

Army bomb experts later carried out a controlled explosion on the van and nothing suspicious was found.

The Very Reverend Doctor William Morton, Dean of Derry, said a number of the deanery's windows were damaged.

He also said a fan light at the house had been "damaged in about half a dozen places".

"The main thing was that nobody was injured. Of course, the police and the army technical officers, they had to do this because there was suspicion about the vehicle.

"It's regrettable that we still have to be suspicious about vehicles that are left like that," said Dean Morton.

Police said later the incident, which is not being treated as a deliberate hoax, was the second security alert in 24 hours.

The Craigavon Bridge reopened on Friday afternoon after a security alert that lasted almost eight hours. A controlled explosion had been carried out on a suspect device on Craigavon Bridge.

Police confirmed that at 10am a suspect object had been located on the upper deck of the structure.

At one point police said it may have been necessary to cut the gas supply to the city side in order to allow Army bomb disposal experts to examine the device. However, the security forces have said that this was not necessary.

PSNI officers armed with automatic machine guns are currently guarded the cordons at the bridge during the alert.

Heavy traffic disruption through the areas at Duke Street, Spencer Road and Victoria Road was prevalent during the alert.

This was the second time inside a year that the bridge has been targeted in this manner. Dissident republicans were blamed for leaving a suspect device inside a van on the lower deck of Craigavon Bridge on the run up to last July's Orange Order parade in the city.

In the event of that alert the bridge remained sealed for over twenty four hours and cause massive disruption to traffic and to trade in the city.

Speaking to the Sentinel, DUP Alderman William Hay said that Friday's incident caused "major problems for commercial life in Londonderry."

The DUP man also said: "This has caused major traffic congestion for people simply wanting to get from one side of the city to the other.

"Commerce in this city cannot afford this loss of trade in the midst of this recession. People cannot afford to loose the money. It is difficult enough in this climate, and still we see these people adding to the difficulties."