Device explodes inside postal van at Northern Ireland army base

A PSNI statement said on Friday: “Detectives from PSNI Serious Crime Branch can confirm that a small explosion occurred inside the rear of a postal vehicle within Palace Barracks in Holywood this morning”.

A fire broke out which then spread to two other vehicles and nearby garages within the complex.

MI5 took on responsibility for national security intelligence work in Northern Ireland in 2007, bringing the national security arrangements in Northern Ireland into line with those in the rest of the UK.

Police remain in attendance at the Army base and said that there were no reports of any injuries.

In 2010 the base which also includes MI5’s Northern Ireland headquarters was targeted by dissident republican extremists opposed to the peace process who planted a bomb inside a hijacked taxi.

A bomb has exploded just 100 metres from M15’s headquarters in Northern Ireland.

The blast, inside a parcel delivery van at Palace Barracks, happened at around 10.30am.

The postal worker wasn’t in the van when it happened.

Superintendent Baxter added the PSNI are working closely with Royal Mail to “mitigate any potential risk” of other similar packages in the postal system.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed there had been an explosion at the back of the vehicle in the Palace Barracks in Holywood.

Ulster Unionist MLA Leslie Cree said the people of Northern Ireland have made “great strides in recent years and they want to see a country where violence and the threat of violence, are left in the past for good”.

‘This is a very worrying development and I would totally and utterly condemn it.

“Anyone with information regarding this incident should contact police on the non-emergency number 101”.

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers described the attack as futile.

Scottish soldiers moved from Dreghorn Barracks in Edinburgh to Palace Barracks in August 2014. “Their actions are reckless and futile”.