Republican News · Thursday 25 July 2002

SF councillor's child escapes bomb attack

Loyalist bombers could have killed the four-year-old son of North Antrim Sinn Féin Councillor Philip McGuigan last week, after the child lifted a bomb addressed to the Sinn Féin man.

The bomb was posted to McGuigan's Dunloy home and was left with mail on a window sill last Thursday, 18 July. The child unwittingly lifted the package and handed it to his mother, who in turn handed to McGuigan. It was only as he was opening the package that McGuigan became suspicious and discovered it contained a video cassette case which contained a crude explosive device made up with a battery wired up to a tube.

The device was later defused by a British Army bomb expert.

Speaking afterwards, McGuigan hit out at politicians who he says have created a climate in which loyalist attacks, particularly against Sinn Féin representatives, have become acceptable.

"Loyalist are determined to raise tension in this area; this is just the latest in a series of attacks against Catholics," he said. "I have four children, all under the age of nine. This device was designed to kill and could have killed any member of my family."

McGuigan also said that mainstream unionist politicians who described him as, "evil" must accept a portion of the blame for the ongoing loyalist violence: "At a time when nationalist throughout the Six Counties are coming under nightly loyalist gun and bomb attacks, these politicians have sought to demonise nationalists, thereby allowing breathing space for loyalist death squads to operate."

Loyalist attackers go about freely

A Limavady man who received a fractured skull and severe bruising to his body during a vicious sectarian attack on him by loyalists on 22 June has said his attackers are still walking about the town despite his naming them to the RUC/PSNI.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said his friend and himself were set upon by six loyalists who got out of a car in Catherine Street. "I woke up in Altnagelvin Hospital with a fractured skull," he said.

"No one has been arrested and nothing seems to have been done despite me identifying my attackers and telling the RUC/PSNI. I want to know why these loyalists who attacked me are walking about Limavady."

Petrol bomb attack on priests' home

Loyalists who targeted a County Down parochial house are being accused of attempting to kill the two priests living there.

Extensive damage was caused to the building, which was attacked at around 5am on Friday 19 July. Four petrol bombs and three lighter fuel canisters were thrown through the front window of the house on Downs Road and when they ignited the ensuing blaze set the kitchen alight. The fire also caused extensive smoke damage to the building.

Father Liam Blaney was awakened by the noise and alerted the other priest, Father Albert McNally. Between them, they managed to extinguish the fire.

"I now know what the people of Belfast have had to suffer. I think the kind of people who do this kind of things don't even think about the consequences of what they do, families may be trapped in one of these attacks and lose their lives," said Fr McNally.

The parochial house is associated with the Church of the Assumption, which has been attacked three times this year.

Sinn Féin councillor for Newcastle, Willie Clarke, said the attackers had intended to kill. "We believe this attack was carried out by loyalist from outside this area who have been drawn into these attacks by more sinister elements," he said.

Portadown family escape gun attack

18-year-old Catholic girl narrowly escaped death after a loyalist gun gang, claiming to be from the Red Hand Defenders, opened fire on her Portadown home at 12.40am on Monday 22 July.

Two bullets entered the bedroom where the teenager was sleeping. Both passed close to her head before ripping into a wardrobe across the room.

The girl lives with her parents and two siblings in Charles Street in Portadown, a street which has suffered many loyalist attacks over the years.

A car used in the attack was found burnt out a few miles from the scene.

The Red Hand Defenders in Portadown, who claimed responsibility for the shooting, are thought to be an amalgamation of the remnants of the LVF and UDA.

Craigavon Sinn Féin councillor Brian McKeown said the attack was "a very deliberate attempt to kill Catholics".

Breandán MacCionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition has urged Catholics in the Portadown area to be very vigilant and take extra care.

"Unfortunately past experience has shown us this is unlikely to be an isolated incident," he said. "This could be the start of another murderous sectarian campaign against Catholics in Portadown."

Short Strand child hit with missile

A six-year-old Catholic girl received stitches to a gaping wound on her head after being hit with a brick thrown over the peace line into Clandeboye Drive from the loyalist Cluan Place area on Tuesday 23 July.

The child had just returned from holiday that afternoon and was playing in a garden in Clandeboye Drive in the Short Strand when the missile struck her on the head, leaving blood streaming from the wound.

This is just the latest in a series of loyalist pipe bomb attacks on the Short Strand, launched from the Cluan Place interface area in recent days despite the fact that the British Crown forces have a 24-hour presence there.

On Saturday 20 July a pipe bomb was thrown into the back of houses in Clandeboye Drive. No one was injured but a pensioner's bungalow was damaged.

On Monday 22 July, a second pipe bomb was thrown over the 'peaceline' and landed on the road where children were playing. Luckily, the device failed to explode and was later defused.

The third attack came at around half past midnight, on Tuesday 23 July. The subsequent explosion broke a number of windows in Clandeboye Drive.

Sinn Féin councillor for East Belfast Joe O'Donnell has called for more protection for people living in the vicinity of Clandeboye.

"These pipe bombs are designed to kill and the RUC/PSNI are doing nothing stop these attacks on this area," he said. "We have a pensioner's bungalow already condemned by the Housing Executive because of the damage done to it by these nightly attacks. The windows are being replaced on a daily basis and the Housing Executive is even considering replacing the glass with toughened perspex."

The British Army's most senior explosive expert, Lieutenant Colonel Alex Boyd, has said that pipe bombs are more lethal than hand grenades and also that no two pipe bombs are the same and their effects are totally unpredictable.

"If I had to stand within five metres of a pipe bomb or a hand grenade I would choose the grenade as I would have a better chance of survival," said Boyd.

Pipe bomb attacks have killed five people and injured 27 in the past five years This year has seen 76 incidents involving a total of 96 pipe bombs which have resulted in one death and 11 injuries. Last year, there were 236 incidents involving 309 pipe bombs, which killed one and injured 19 people.