Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has described a bomb attack on the home of leading Belfast republican Liam Shannon as a ``transparent attempt to wreck the peace process''.
Last Wednesday's attack on the Shannon home could have wiped out the entire family, as the ten-inch pipe bomb used was strapped to a container of petrol and had six-inch nails taped to it.
Had the bomb, which was placed underneath the window of the house, exploded, it would have engulfed the house in flames.
In an attempt to inflict as much injury as possible, the bombers placed what the RUC described as a secondary device across from the Shannon home. ``This was designed to prevent the emergency services reaching the house had the bomb gone off,'' said Shannon, who is the chairperson of the Irish Republican Felons Association and a prominent member of the National Graves Association. He has been the subject of a campaign of harassment by members of the RUC.
One senior officer, previously over the West Belfast area, pursued a vendetta against the Felons Club, having it raided on a regular basis. Shannon was subsequently charged as a result of this harassment. Several years ago, the RUC visited Liam Shannon to tell him his files were in the hands of loyalists, but what is more worrying about the attack is that the Shannon home is overlooked by the British army base on top of the Broadway nurses' home (see picture).
example of the degree of surveillance that the area and Shannon's street in particular is under is underlined by the story he relates about how a neighbour, a couple of years ago, received a phone call from the RUC, warning him that an intruder was breaking into his house by the front window. The intruder had been spotted from the Broadway post.
``You can see everything from that post and just over a year ago the British army put in cameras there, directed over the La Salle area,'' said Shannon.
It was last Wednesday night, coming up to 12 midnight, when Liam Shannon arrived home with his wife. The house was empty. Often the Shannon's grandchildren would stay over at the weekend.
As Mrs Shannon got out of the car to open the gate to allow Liam drive the car into the garage, she spotted a white bag underneath the window of their home. Liam Shannon, on examining the bag, saw the lethal-looking device. He immediately called the RUC, who took 25 minutes to arrive on the scene.
``This bomb was a particularly deadly one, so I would urge all nationalists to be on their guard, be very vigilant'', said Shannon.
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