OAPs injured in pipe-bomb attack

Three pensioners have been injured following a pipe-bomb attack at a house in Belfast last night.

At around 8pm, two women and a man, all believed to be in their 70s, were in a house in Ambleside Street, off the Shankill Road, when the device was thrown through the living room window.

Both women were treated for shrapnel wounds, one to an eye, the other to a leg. The man suffered severe shock.

A number of youths on bicycles were seen nearby immediately after the incident.

The staunchly loyalist Shankill area has seen much turmoil in recent days following the exile of leading elements of Johnny Adair's renegade C Company last week. The Ulster Political Research Group – a UDA affiliated think tank – said that the loyalist feud was finished in Northern Ireland in the wake of the expulsions. For many residents, they had expressed hopes that peace would return to the area.

PUP assembly member Billy Hutchinson said that it was "a total mystery" as to the motive behind the attack, adding that it was a miracle that no one was killed.

He said: "These are Christian people… who would be described as very good neighbours. They do not have any background at all to suggest that people would want to attack them."

Whilst he believed that the atmosphere on the Shankill had changed for the better, Mr Hutchinson felt that "some residue" could be expected over last week's events.

Detectives have appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

(GMcG)