Army bomb disposal experts today defused a small improvised bomb near a primary school in the heart of the Rev Ian Paisley’s constituency.

The pipe bomb was discovered by school maintenance staff in a hedge at Harryville Primary School in Ballymena, Co Antrim, shortly after 9am. The school and a number of adjacent houses were evacuated and the device was eventually made safe around 10.30am.

The school's principal, Leslie Meikle, told BBC News 24 that police later found several other devices and the pupils had been sent home for the rest of the day.

Last month, the school was evacuated and pupils taken to a nearby park as Army bomb disposal experts defused three viable pipe bombs near the school.

But police were not linking today’s find with the previous find and Ms Meikle said the school itself was not thought to be a target. "We don't believe that they're targeting the school," she said. "It's just this back entry where they can drop stuff off."

The device is the latest in a series of incidents affecting schools in Ballymena. Catholic schools have been attacked amid rising sectarian tensions which have also seen Catholic homes and property attacked in North Antrim.

Last week, Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, and Dr Paisley, the Democratic Unionist leader, jointly visited St Louis Primary School, a Catholic school in Ballymena targeted in a sectarian attack in August. Harryville Primary School is attended mostly by Protestant children.

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