British army experts make safe unexploded pipe bomb

A grandfather arriving for a family visit in Coleraine, Co Derry, had a lucky escape yesterday morning when he picked up an unexploded…

A grandfather arriving for a family visit in Coleraine, Co Derry, had a lucky escape yesterday morning when he picked up an unexploded pipe bomb on their doorstep.

The RUC has repeated its call for people not to handle suspicious objects after the 72-year-old Catholic man narrowly escaped death or serious injury.

British army bomb disposal experts later made safe the device, which was thrown at the front door of the house on the Kylemore Road after 1 a.m.

A Catholic church in Newtownstewart, Co Tyrone, was also targeted with a pipe bomb which exploded early yesterday causing damage to a window.

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The RUC has appealed for anybody who witnessed suspicious activity around the Glennock chapel to come forward.

Bomb experts also carried out controlled explosions on a suspicious object found on the Bleary Road in Portadown and on a pipe bomb found in an unoccupied flat in Armagh city.

Sectarian violence flared in west Belfast early yesterday. No one was injured when two petrol-bombs were thrown from the loyalist side of a peace line at Cupar Street.

Loyalists have also been blamed for the second pipebomb attack on a Catholic home in a week.

Windows in the house on Westland Gardens, north Belfast, were shattered when a device exploded on Friday night.

The same house was targeted last Wednesday.

Meanwhile, an 18-year-old man was recovering after being shot in the leg by loyalists in Roden Street in south Belfast.