Police in Northern Ireland have foiled a major dissident republican terror plot involving a 270kg (600lb) bomb.
The device was discovered in a spot close to the border near Forkhill in South Armagh. It had a command wire attached to it that ran from Northern Ireland to a firing point inside the Irish Republic, police said today.
Its discovery came after a week-long search operation involving armed police officers, British army helicopters and Irish troops on either side of the South Armagh/North Louth border region.
During the seven-day security operation, a number of homes had to be evacuated and a road leading to a local horticultural business was closed to protect the public.
A senior police commander said there could have been a "devastating outcome" if the bomb had been detonated.
The North Louth/South Armagh area is a stronghold for the Real IRA. It was from this region that the Omagh bomb plot was hatched and executed, 11 years ago.
Last month, the Real IRA staged a show of strength in the nearby village of Meigh. Armed dissidents patrolled the village with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket launchers, and even stopped traffic at a makeshift roadblock. A police patrol that drove into Meigh had to withdraw when officers realised they were outgunned by the Real IRA unit.
"The actions of terrorist criminals in planting this device in the Forkhill area put local people and police officers at significant risk," the local PSNI commander, Chief Inspector Sam Cordner, said today.
"Their actions were reckless and dangerous in the extreme. Their target may have been the police, but they did not care who they killed or injured.
"It is only through the hard work and professionalism of police officers and their military colleagues that the area has been made safe."
The remains of the device, which contained fertiliser-based homemade explosives, have been removed for further examination, a PSNI spokesman said.
The Sinn Féin MP for Newry and Armagh and Northern Ireland minister, Conor Murphy, said he was "extremely concerned" over the find.
He said: "I would question the motives of those who are putting the local community in such danger.
"I challenge those who have planted this bomb in the community to come forward and explain why they have done so. How is this furthering the struggle for Irish freedom?"
The local SDLP assembly member, Dominic Bradley, condemned those who had planted the bomb, but also questioned the police response.
"Everybody accepts the dangerous nature of policing this type of threat by the PSNI," he said. However, serious questions must be asked about the response time in dealing with the device and evacuating people from their nearby homes.
"It seems the PSNI may have known about this bomb days before they moved people. And if that's the case, then it is certainly cause for much concern."
The Real IRA and Continuity IRA have attempted to mount major bomb attacks since their terror campaigns intensified at the start of this year.
In January, the security forces found and defused a 300lb in Down, which they said was destined for Ballykinley army base on the coast. Five months later, around 100lbs of explosives were found in field near Rosslea, in Fermanagh. Security sources said this device, like the one found in Down, was to have been used against the army and police.
British troops and police officers remain the Real IRA and Continuity IRA's principal targets in their campaigns to destabilise the political power-sharing settlement in Northern Ireland. Both organisations regard Sinn Féin's presence in the power-sharing coalition with unionists as a sell-out of traditional republicanism.
A 600 lb bomb which was found in Northern Ireland has been defused by a bomb disposal team. A map of the British Isles with Northern Ireland in red.

The bomb was found on the side of a road near the village of Forkhill in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, close to the border with the Republic of Ireland. It was defused by an expert bomb disposal team from the Irish Army. The explosives were home-made and weighed 600 lb (270 kg). It is believed that the bomb was planted there by dissident republicans.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland believed that there could have been a "devastating outcome" — and that they were also potentially targets of the bombers.  Chief Inspector Sam Cordner said: "The actions of terrorist criminals in planting this device in the Forkhill area put local people and police officers at significant risk." 

"Their actions were reckless and dangerous in the extreme. Their target may have been the police, but they did not care who they killed or injured. It is only through the hard work and professionalism of police officers and their military colleagues that the area has been made safe," Cordner said.

20 people had to evacuate their homes while the bomb was safely defused. Authorities took the device and will conduct a forensic examination.