The principal of a school in Co Antrim has said she is "absolutely disgusted" that pupils were forced to leave their classrooms after a viable device was left nearby.
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Around 170 children at Crumlin Integrated Primary School were evacuated to a local community centre after the device was found inside the perimeter fence of an unmanned PSNI station on Wednesday morning.
Army bomb experts examined the device while a police helicopter carried out an aerial examination of the surrounding area.
The device, described as viable, was removed for further examinations and the security operation has now ended, a police spokesperson said.
About 30 families evacuated during the alert on Mill Road have been allowed to return home.
The Mill Road, which was closed between the Crumlin Road and Main Street, has re-opened.
'Disgraceful'
The unoccupied station is opposite the school attended by both Protestant and Catholic children.
Principal Christine Boal said: "Our business is teaching so the entire day has been lost."
"It is disgraceful that anyone would put a device anywhere near a school. It is a backward step for the community."
Ms Boal said those behind the alert "had absolutely no conscience."
She has called on them to "stop before something dreadful happens."
On Monday, an eight-year old-boy found a viable device in the playground of an Antrim Catholic primary school.
Brendan Shannon, from St Comgall's Primary, lifted the pipe bomb before handing it over to one of his teachers. The school was evacuated and closed for the day.
Sinn Féin MLA for South Antrim Mitchell McLaughlin says those responsible behind the alert in Crumlin are as senseless as those who left a bomb at St Comgall's in Antrim.
"It is despicable that those responsible have left this device literally across the street from a local primary school and only yards for the local fire station. It is as stupid and senseless as the leaving of a pipe bomb in St Comgall's in Antrim earlier in the week," he said.
SDLP South Antrim MLA Thomas Burns told UTV the device had been placed exactly where children usually wait for their bus.
"This is absolutely outrageous that people are putting children at risk. That's utterly and totally unacceptable", Mr Burns said.
"These pipe-bombers have nothing to offer anyone except disruption and mayhem."
Ulster Unionist South Antrim MLA Danny Kinahan says the incident demonstrates the "depths to which terrorists are prepared to stoop".
"If those involved will put the lives of young children at risk, then there is no line that they will not cross", he said.
"They are beneath our contempt and have no place in a Northern Ireland that is committed to stability and a better future for our children."
Alliance Antrim Councillor Alan Lawther has urged anybody with information to contact police.
"I just can not understand the thinking of those who have left these devices in Antrim and Crumlin.
"These people must be taken off the streets by the police before somebody is killed by these devices."
© UTV News