More bombs in N. Ireland town

BALLYCASTLE, Northern Ireland -- Police have appealed for the public to be on alert after two more explosive devices were found close to where a car bomb was defused at a busy seaside town.

Two pipe bombs were discovered at an hotel in Ballycastle, County Antrim, and in a nearby pub, the Royal Ulster Constabulary said on Wednesday.

Army explosives experts defused both devices which were found 24 hours after a huge car bomb was left in a neighbouring street where tens of thousands of people had been attending the town's Auld Lammas Fair.

Police says they believe loyalist paramilitaries were involved and claimed there could have been mass slaughter had it detonated.

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Senior officers described the planting of the car bomb is such a busy area as "madness." A leading politician warned that had it gone off the result could have been worse than in Omagh in August 1998 when 29 people were killed by a Real IRA bomb.

The RUC's Superintendent John Bustard accused those who planted the bomb of attempting to murder innocent people and says they are intent are causing "carnage" in the town.

In a statement to CNN he said: "Ruthless individuals have once again sought to inflict carnage on the people of Ballycastle.

"The public should be under no illusion as to the reckless and indiscriminate nature of these attacks as the devices were concealed in a such a way as to make their detection extremely difficult."

The two pipe bombs were the latest in a series of attacks mounted throughout Northern Ireland against Catholic families and property.

Earlier a couple and their four children escaped unhurt when two pipe bombs exploded outside the door of their home in Ballynahinch, County Down.

Wednesday's attacks brought to 129 the number of bomb attacks in Northern Ireland this year.

A total of 55 bombs have exploded while 90 more were defused.

Ian Paisley Junior, a Democratic Unionist member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, claimed the planting of the car bomb could have made the Omagh bomb "look like a small incident in the Troubles."

He urged those behind the latest attacks to stop immediately.

He said: "I don't think this sort of thing solves anything. It just heightens community tensions and creates more fear.

"I would appeal to people to stop it and find another way of making their opinions known."