DISSIDENT republicans have been branded as “despicable” for leaving a mortar type device in a graveyard.
It is believed the device was to have been fired at a passing police patrol.
The PSNI said a clearance operation in Strabane was still ongoing after the device was found on Saturday evening.
Searches started in the early hours yesterday morning after reports that a device had been left in the Townsend Street/Cemetery Road area.
A number of elderly people had to be evacuated from their homes and the graveyard was closed for most of the day.
Area police commander Supt Mark McEwan said he wanted to thank the public for their patience.
“The blame for the disruption rests with those individuals or groups who appear determined to pursue an agenda of violence and destruction which can only be to the detriment of all our community.
“I would continue to appeal to everyone to work with us to reduce the threat that these people pose, and to keep people safe.”
Officers had issued a public warning at 2.50 am, advising the public that the area was being searched and asking people not to touch any suspicious objects but to call police immediately.
SDLP councillor Patsy Kelly said: “This is not the first or the second time that they’ve done this and I don’t know why they’re continually doing this because it’s the people of Strabane that they are inconveniencing and disrupting.
“People use that graveyard every day of the week, anybody could have come across that device and God knows what the consequences could have been.
“To leave this in an area like this is despicable.”