North Belfast home gutted
Family lucky to escape
BY CAÍTLIN DOHERTY
The radio said that another pipe bomb had exploded in the New
Lodge area of North Belfast. The BBC presenter said that a fire
ensued.
Not a word was mentioned about the fact that the house had been
gutted from top to bottom. Not a word on the fact that every
single piece of furniture was reduced to ashes. Not a word about
how three children in the house would have died in the blaze if
neighbours hadn't come to their rescue, as their father was
trapped by the flames in another part of the house.
No, there had been forty pipe bomb attacks in recent weeks and
this one was just another one.
On Sunday morning, as the couple and children surveyed the
damage; nothing was left of their home. The house where the two
adults had started to plan their wedding was gutted from top to
bottom. The sofa was reduced to a black frame. Burnt frames and
photos of smiling children lay in ashes, spread in a jungle of
debris.
During the night, the glass had been broken to ensure that the
bomb would not bounce off the window. The device, containing an
incendiary accelerant, was thrown in. It went off within seconds.
After the first explosion, there was a second that blew off the
inside doors. A fireball tore through the house, gutting it.
The father, trapped at one end of the house, couldn't go to the
rescue of his children, who were in their bedrooms. If it hadn't
been for the neighbours rushing to the scene, three children,
aged 10 months to 14 years, would now be dead.
The attack has sent shock waves throughout the Six Counties. The
type of bomb used and the fact that it was an incendiary device
shows how the loyalist murder squads have now set out to wipe out
entire families.
According to nationalist political representatives, the attack
marks a clear escalation in the sectarian campaign carried out by
elements of the UDA. It is now more evident than ever that the
loyalist paramilitaries are not trying to merely intimidate
Catholic residents. The UDA, as the New Lodge attack has shown,
is intent on wiping out entire families.
In an alarming trend, the media has tried to play down the number
of attacks and the damage they are causing. The mainstream media
has also attempted to turn a blind eye to the fact that pipe bomb
attacks are a blatant attempt to murder and wipe out innocent
Catholic families.
Gerry Kelly, Sinn Féin Assembly member for North Belfast, says
there is no doubt that the UDA is behind the attacks in North
Belfast and other areas in the Six Counties, such as Coleraine,
Larne and Ballymena.
``I think part of it is that they are looking for republicans to
react and I think that republicans have been exceptionally
disciplined throughout this period and I would hope and believe
that they would continue in that vein,'' he said.
``But is more than that. It is someone going out to kill Catholics
because they believe somewhere in their minds that they can
intimidate Catholics, republicans and nationalists. They have
tried for 30 years and this organisation has no other reason to
be in existence other than to kill Catholics. It will not work.
This generation of republicans and nationalists will not accept
it.''
The New Lodge family is currently homeless and recovering from
the trauma of last Sunday's assassination attempt.
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