British army experts are still examining the suspicious vehicle, which was abandoned Wednesday night on a bridge in the Northern Ireland village of Claudy. Telephone warnings claimed that the van contained 600 pounds (275 kilograms) of explosives.

Police said Thursday the two arrested suspects are aged 34 and 28. They gave no other details.

Typically IRA dissidents plant fake car bombs. That reflects both their desire to cause maximum disruption and their relatively poor ability to launch attacks versus the mainstream IRA, which renounced violence and disarmed four years ago.