A van was hijacked and abandoned at Grosvenor Road police station

It is believed dissident republicans were responsible for nine hoax alerts which sparked traffic chaos on Wednesday morning.

Police said the alerts were at locations stretching from Bow Street Mall, Lisburn, to Shaw's Bridge, Belfast.

The spate of alerts started with two hijackings in Belfast and Dunmurry.

The first alert began at 0800 BST near the main Lisburn to Dunmurry road.

Police said a bus had been hijacked and abandoned with a suspect package on board.

It is believed that two armed and masked men hijacked the Ulsterbus at Stewartstown Road.

Only the driver was on board at the time. He was said to be "deeply shocked" by the hijacking.

The alert was later declared an elaborate hoax.

Just after 0800 BST, Annadale embankment in the south of the city was closed from King's Bridge to Sunnyside Street as a suspicious device was examined.

Warnings

A controlled explosion was carried out.

At 0830 BST, there were telephone warnings about devices at Queen's Bridge and Shaw's Bridge, but nothing was found.

At 0900 BST, bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion on a hijacked bread van left outside Grosvenor Road police station in west Belfast.

Police said it was a hoax.

Alerts in High Street and Royal Avenue in Belfast have also ended.

Assistant Chief Constable Maggie Hunter has condemned the series of bomb warnings.

"These alerts create serious disruption for people going about their everyday lives in a way that is unacceptable and irresponsible," she said.

The public transport company Translink said the alerts had caused considerable distress to its staff and passengers.