Image caption A beer keg left in a car sparked an alert in north Belfast in the early hours of Tuesday

A pipe bomb has been made safe by the Army during a security alert in south Belfast on Tuesday.

The device was found on the Malone Road. A controlled explosion was carried out on it.

The road was closed between Adelaide Park and Cranmore Park but has now reopened.

Controlled explosions were also carried out in two other alerts on Tuesday - in north Belfast and in Holywood. Both turned out to be hoaxes.

A number of families had to to leave their homes in the early hours of the morning due to the north Belfast alert.

It began at about 03.40 BST on Tuesday after police found an abandoned car on Hillview Road, just off the Crumlin Road.

Army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion on the vehicle, which had been hijacked just after midnight in the Lenadoon area of west Belfast.

Hillview Road, the Crumlin Road, Oldpark Road and Tennent Street were all closed for a time.

DUP councillor Brian Kingston visited the scene of the alert earlier.

"When the police examined it, they discovered a suspicious object in the back of the car, possibly a beer keg," he said.

"This then resulted in the security alert with the residents evacuated from their homes at around five o'clock this morning."

He said about 60 to 80 homes were affected occupied by residents "of all ages".

In a separate alert a controlled explosion was carried out on an object in the Redburn area of Holywood. It was found to be "nothing untoward".