A number of children and parents suffered shock when a device exploded close to where they were walking home from Holy Cross Girls' Primary School in north Belfast yesterday afternoon.
A house in Alliance Avenue was damaged in the explosion. A back door was blown in, windows were smashed and debris littered a large area surrounding the property. The female occupant of the house also suffered shock.
The chairman of the school's board of governors, Father Aidan Troy, said the attack should encourage everybody involved in the Holy Cross stand-off to redouble their efforts to resolve it.
The SDLP MLA for North Belfast, Mr Alban Maginness, condemned the explosion, saying it could easily have led to loss of life. A local Sinn FΘin councillor, Ms Margaret McClenaghan, accused the UDA of being behind the attack.
Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Office has expressed disappointment at the decision of a loyalist councillor to withdraw from talks to resolve the seven-week stand-off over the school route.
The Progressive Unionist Party's Mr Billy Hutchinson said he felt his role in trying to resolve the dispute was not being valued by the British government. The NIO, however, said this was untrue.
"At a time such as this it is paramount that those in a position of influence, including elected representatives like Mr Hutchinson, do everything they can to bring about a peaceful resolution for the benefit of everyone concerned," the NIO said in a statement.