British army dismantles parcel bomb in Northern Ireland's mail-sorting center

British army experts dismantled a parcel bomb Wednesday in Northern Ireland's major mail-sorting center, which had to be evacuated for six hours.

The bomb interception came two weeks after Northern Ireland police chief Hugh Orde put the British territory on alert against the possibility of increased attacks by Irish Republican Army dissidents. Police have resumed road checkpoints to deter the threat of car bombs.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said in a statement that postal workers discovered the bomb at the main Royal Mail sorting center near Belfast, which uses high-tech X-ray and other scanning devices. The statement described the bomb as "viable and unstable."

Officials at the police press office in Belfast declined to disclose the delivery address on the package.

In the past, both IRA dissidents and anti-Catholic extremists have tried to target their political enemies using bombs in the mail. Most of them have been detected at the suburban Belfast sorting center.

IRA dissidents opposed to the group's 2005 decision to renounce violence and disarm have continued to mount sporadic attacks in pursuit of the traditional IRA goal of forcing Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom.

Dissidents most recently claimed responsibility for shooting two off-duty policemen in separate attacks in November; both officers, struck by shotgun blasts as they drove their private cars, survived.