Londonderry hoaxers 'selfish cowards'

Later declared an elaborate hoax, Thursday's alert began around lunchtime resulting in both decks of the bridge being sealed off for around eight hours.

The device, apparently housed in a lunch box, wrapped in heavy black tape had a working clock attached to it and a red LED light visible on it.

Londonderry's traffic flow effectively ground to a halt during the alert causing anger and frustration amongst commuters and the business community.

The suspicious object was attached to the bridge with magnets and was placed closed to a gas pipeline running across the lower deck of the structure.

Army bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion on the object at around 5pm.

PSNI Acting Chief Inspector, John Burrows described those behind the alert as "selfish cowards."

Speaking to the Sentinel, he said: "These people do not care that they left school children standing at school gates as their parents tried to reach them. They do not care that ambulances were delayed in getting sick people to hospital for appointments. They do not care that some people were unable to get home from work to see their families."

Mr Burrows also appealed to the public to come forward with information on the incident in order to catch those responsible.

Thursday's alert followed a similar incident last Tuesday. The initial alert was declared all clear by police after a few hours and the bridge remained open during that alert.

Londonderry's MP, Mark Durkan, out-rightly condemned those behind the alert and said the action displayed a blatant disregard for the people of the city.

He said: "I utterly condemn those responsible for the security alert. All they are doing is bringing disruption and damage to the life of the city. If the device had been real it was designed to damage. It was a hoax, so it was designed to disrupt."