Car bomb hits N. Ireland military base

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Bomb goes off in Belfast neighborhood
No immediate claim of responsibility
Other recent attacks blamed on dissident Irish republicans
Republicans want Northern Ireland to join the rest of Ireland

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(CNN) -- A car bomb exploded outside a British army barracks in Northern Ireland early Monday, but there was no immediate report of damage or injuries from the blast, police said.

The bomb went off about 12:30 a.m. (7:30 p.m. Sunday ET) outside the Palace Barracks, a military base in the Belfast neighborhood of Holywood.

There was no immediate report of a claim of responsibility for the blast. Other recent attacks have been blamed on dissident Irish republicans who reject the 1998 Good Friday accords, which sharply reduced violence in the British-ruled province.

Northern Ireland was wracked for decades by violence between pro-British unionists and republicans who wanted Northern Ireland to join the rest of Ireland. About 3,000 people died in the "Troubles," as the violence was known, before the Good Friday pact.