Police are dealing with a suspicious device left in Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh, early this morning.
According to the PSNI, a report was received at about 2am that a device had been left in a silver Peugeot car close to a police station. Some 50 to 60 homes nearby were evacuated, and residents are being housed in a local primary school.
Yesterday, the Real IRA claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on the Northern Ireland headquarters of British intelligence agency MI5.
The bombing, the second by dissident republicans in two months, was designed to coincide with the transfer of justice and policing powers from London to Stormont.
The device was brought to Palace Barracks army base in Holywood by a taxi which had been hijacked in north Belfast late on Sunday.
The grey Skoda was hijacked in Ligoneil and the driver held hostage. He was then ordered to take his taxi containing the device to Holywood and abandon it near the exit of the barracks on Old Holywood Road.
It blew up about 20 minutes later in what the PSNI said was a “significant explosion”.
Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan-Monaghan Margaret Conlon, said this morning's incident and the activities of dissident republicans in recent weeks, including the Holywood explosion, were "beyond contempt".
"It is sickening to see this kind of threat revisit Northern Ireland and the Border counties. We do not want a return to this kind of threat. These people have no support and no mandate,” said Ms Conlon, who is vice chair of the British Irish Interparliamentary Assembly.
Ms Conlon said she welcomed the swift confirmation from Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern yesterday that he intends to meet with the new Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford as soon as possible to discuss these issues.
Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy criticised those responsible for the bomb alert in Newtonhamilton.
"I would call on those who support these groups to come forward and explain to us how this act will in any way advance republican objectives," he said. "The reality is that there now exists a peaceful way to achieve Irish unity. Republicans, along with the vast majority of the people of Ireland are committed to pursuing that objective peacefully."