A Dublin criminal gang left a pipe bomb near a busy commuter line at Dun Laoghaire. Gardai believe the device was stashed near the main rail line for later collection by members of the gang.

YOUNGSTERS playing in a Dorset river had a shock when they discovered a Second World War shell.

The army bomb squad and Dorset Police were called to Greys Bridge on London Road, Dorchester on Wednesday night.

The device, a Second World War shell, was found in the riverbed by a 13-year-old boy playing in the water.

Around 200 soldiers who were at the forefront of the fight against deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Afghanistan have been awarded their campaign medals in Suffolk.

More than 100 troops from 61 Field Squadron (EOD), 33 Engineer Regiment (EOD) and 101 Engineer Regiment (EOD) returned from Afghanistan earlier this month.

They were joined by around 100 other soldiers from the Royal Military Police, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy as they were awarded their Operation Herrick medals by General Sir Peter Wall CBE, Chief of the General Staff, at Rock Barracks at Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Soldiers based at the barracks have been working in teams to find and dispose of IEDs and explosive ordnance within Helmand province.

In January a Royal Engineer search team found and rendered safe 12 IEDs in one operation. The devices which ranged from 5kg to 15kg and were targeted at both vehicles and troops on foot, were defused by RLC Ammunition Technical Officer, Warrant Officer Class 2 Iain Martin.

In March the Counter-IED team took part in a high-risk IED clearance of an entire village. Eighty bomb disposal specialists and members of the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) carried out a painstaking fingertip search of Char Choucha village to clear it of IEDs.

Within eight days the IED clearance was complete with nine IEDs defused, nine weapon caches found and removed and 75 compounds plus miles of tracks and alleyways searched and cleared.

This led to more than 40 families returning to live in the village, with more set to follow.

Three soldiers of the Counter-IED Task Force lost their lives during the tour. Corporal David Barnsdale from 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and Sapper William Blanchard from 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) were killed in October last year.

Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Charles Henry Wood from 23 Pioneer Regiment RLC (Royal Logistic Corps) was killed on December 28.

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Tributes have been paid to the first British female bomb disposal expert to be killed in action.

Captain Lisa Jade Head, of 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, the Royal Logistic Corps, had disabled one homemade bomb when another exploded...