The police have said that a bomb left inside the Newry Santander bank could have killed or caused serious injury.

A republican Facebook site criticised for putting police officers' safety at risk has been shut down.

Details of the plot have been revealed by an informed source who said the device contained Semtex explosives, was fitted with a detonator and attached to a 50-metre long command wire that would allow the bomb to be triggered from a distance.

Contingency plans to draft in police officers from other UK forces in an emergency to help tackle the terrorist threat and public disorder demonstrate that the PSNI is massively under-resourced, the chairman of the Police Federation of Northern Ireland has said.