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| Store arson damage being assessed | |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Damage caused to a DIY outlet in Coleraine targeted in an arson attack is being assessed. | |
| The fire in the B&Q store at Riverside Retail Park was probably started by an incendiary device, police have said. | The fire in the B&Q store at Riverside Retail Park was probably started by an incendiary device, police have said. |
| In August, the Real IRA was blamed for a series of incendiary attacks on commercial premises in Newry. | |
| Local MP Gregory Campbell, from the DUP, said the attack would not derail the Scottish power-sharing talks scheduled for this week. | |
| "It is no coincidence that this is happening in the run-up to St Andrews and I would suspect that we, as a community, are probably going to be in the firing line of more attempts like this in the run-up to the 24 November deadline for devolution," he said. | |
| "Because down the years various paramilitary groups have used summits and high-profile events as an excuse to go on a commercial fire-bombing blitz. | |
| "It will not improve nor lessen any chances for progress because the wider community have not come through 40 years of far worse than this to be derailed by something, deplorable though it is, for the local economy, like this." | |
| Local Sinn Fein councillor Billy Leonard said "there is no place whatsoever" for such actions. | |
| Carpet section | |
| "It is well known that people generally now want politics to work and republicans want their aspirations worked for politically," he said. | |
| The blaze, which severely damaged the store, was discovered in a carpet section at about 2230 BST on Saturday. | The blaze, which severely damaged the store, was discovered in a carpet section at about 2230 BST on Saturday. |
| Police have appealed for anyone with information or who noticed anything suspicious to contact them and asked all keyholders in the town to check their premises. | |
| Charlie McAuley from the Fire and Rescue Service says the sprinkler system contained the fire. | Charlie McAuley from the Fire and Rescue Service says the sprinkler system contained the fire. |
| "There was extensive damage caused by the smoke and by the water from the sprinkler system that had been activated, so there is quite a considerable amount of damage to the store and the stock," he said. | "There was extensive damage caused by the smoke and by the water from the sprinkler system that had been activated, so there is quite a considerable amount of damage to the store and the stock," he said. |