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Belfast police escape bomb attack hours after shooting ‘Sophisticated’ pipe bomb thrown at police patrol in Northern Ireland
(about 3 hours later)
The Police Service of Northern Ireland has confirmed that its officers escaped a pipe bomb attack in north Belfast early on Tuesday. Anti-ceasefire republicans have upgraded their bomb-making technology, army bomb disposal officers have claimed.
The explosion outside the Holy Cross Church on the Crumlin Road came just hours after a man was shot in the chest and stomach in the west of the city. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said on Tuesday that a pipe bomb thrown at their officers in the early hours was “advanced” and “sophisticated”.
Homes were evacuated after the explosive device was hurled at a passing armoured police patrol vehicle. Early morning mass at the Catholic church was postponed because of the ensuing security operation. The PSNI said army bomb squad officers dealt with the 60cm-long explosive device, which was found outside a church in north Belfast.
The PSNI said no officers were injured in the blast which is being blamed on republican dissidents. The road had reopened by early afternoon after army bomb disposal officers cleared the area. The explosion outside the Holy Cross church on Crumlin Road came hours after a man was shot in the chest and stomach in the west of the city.
Fr Gary Donegan, the rector of the church, condemned those behind the explosion. Homes were evacuated after the explosive device was hurled at an armoured police patrol driving along the road. An early-morning service at the Catholic church had to be postponed as security forces searched the area.
“I don’t know what their motive is behind any of this kind of behaviour,” he said. The PSNI said no officers were injured in the blast, which is being blamed on republican dissidents. The road has now reopened after army bomb-disposal officers cleared the area, the police said.
At around 10pm on Monday a man in his 30s was shot in the chest and the stomach in the Clonard area of west Belfast. The victim was hit several times at a house in Oranmore Street in the nationalist district. Fr Gary Donegan, rector of the church in Ardoyne, condemned those behind the explosion. “I don’t know what their motive is behind any of this kind of behaviour,” the priest said.
Ch Supt Nigel Grimshaw said the device was a “large homemade bomb” that was “made with a degree of sophistication that causes us great concern”. He said the device “bore the hallmarks of dissident republicans”.
The organisation representing police officers in the region expressed concern that the dissident republican group behind the explosion had developed a new type of bomb. The Police Federation of Northern Ireland said: “This is a cause of great concern to this federation and we would urge all officers to remain at high alert.”
At about 10pm on Monday a man in his 30s was shot in the chest and the stomach in the Clonard area of west Belfast. The victim was hit several times at a house in Oranmore Street in the nationalist district.
The man is said to be in a critical condition at the nearby Belfast Royal Victoria hospital.The man is said to be in a critical condition at the nearby Belfast Royal Victoria hospital.
SDLP and West Belfast assembly member Alex Attwood condemned the shooting as “barbaric and vicious”. Alex Attwood, a Social Democratic and Labour party member of the Northern Ireland assembly for West Belfast, condemned the shooting as “barbaric and vicious”.
“The people of west Belfast don’t want this. They don’t want guns on our streets or people put in hospital by those taking the law into their own hands. We will not be dragged back to that.” “The people of west Belfast don’t want this. They don’t want guns on our streets or people put in hospital by those taking the law into their own hands,” he said. “We will not be dragged back to that.”