By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:59 AM on 09th September 2009
The fragile peace in Northern Ireland was under strain last night after terrorists tried to kill scores of police and civilians with a bomb.
The huge 600lb device was defused by Army bomb disposal experts after being found close to the border outside Forkhill in south Armagh.
It was bigger than the car bomb which exploded in Omagh in 1998 killing 29, and police said it contained enough homemade explosives for a 'devastating outcome'.
Bomb scare: Garda and Irish army soldiers man a checkpoint at the border near the scene of the security alert
No one has claimed responsibility, but detectives suspect dissident republicans.
The bomb had a command wire running to a firing point across the border in the Irish Republic.
Target: Chief Inspector Sam Cordner said the bombers were targeting police officers
Local police commander, Newry and Mourne Chief Inspector Sam Cordner, said the targets were police officers but the bomb was close to six civilian homes.
He added: 'The bombers were reckless, had the device exploded the houses would have been demolished and those inside killed.'
The alarm was raised last Tuesday following a telephoned warning to a newspaper. But the location was said to be very vague.
In March, the murder of two British soldiers and a policeman threatened to destabilise the region.
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