02/12/2002

Families escape injury in separate pipe-bomb attacks

Families in two houses in Co Antrim and Co Londonderry have been attacked with pipe bombs last night.

Two people escaped injury when a device was thrown at their house at Brown's Bay Road in Islandmagee, Co Antrim. The device, thrown through a kitchen window, failed to explode.

SDLP assembly member for the area, Danny O'Connor, today described the attack as a "vicious assault" and said that the motive remained unclear.

"The residents of this house must obviously be in utter shock, but it is lucky that the bomb did not explode and that no-one was injured," he said.

Mr O'Connor urged anyone with information about the attack to contact the police.

In Coleraine, a family of three also escaped injury when a device, thrown through the living room window of their home in Fairview Park, failed to go off.

Both of the incidents occurred at around 11pm on Sunday evening.

A police spokesperson said that army technical officers have removed material for examination.

(SP)

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