Security sources in the North are blaming the dissident republican group, the "Real IRA", for yesterday morning's mortar-bomb attack on the British army's headquarters in the Waterside area of Derry.
The mortar, packed with 200 lb of homemade explosives, was projected over a security fence around the Ebrington Barracks camp just after midnight. Five hundred members of the lst Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment, based in the camp, escaped injury when the device failed to explode. It is believed it struck living quarters inside the camp in which 30 soldiers were sleeping.
The device was launched just after midnight from a van which had been abandoned by the bombers in May Street, directly across the road from the camp. The only casualty, a man who was walking past the van as the mortar was launched, was slightly injured when he was blown to the ground.
The RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, described the attack as "attempted mass murder" and said the "barrackbuster" mortar used by the bombers was notoriously inaccurate.
"This barrack-buster was left shortly after midnight and detonated within the next 10 minutes. There was no warning whatsoever, but thank God no one was seriously injured or killed when the mortar landed inside Ebrington Barracks, other wise we would be facing a situation where there had been multiple murder," he said.
"These are launched from near the target. They fly through the air and are intended to be detonated when they hit their intended target. They are notoriously inaccurate, and in the past we have had these things flying past targets and taking the roofs off houses. They are notoriously dangerous and the people who use them have no regard for the safety of people who live in the area," the Chief Constable said.
The mortar bomb was launched directly outside the home of Mr Desmond Forbes (18), who lives in May Street with his mother and his 86-yearold grandfather.
"I was asleep in bed when all of a sudden there was a loud bang. The whole house shook, and I thought a bomb had gone off in the barracks. I ran downstairs, and outside the house was a van with the doors hanging off it and smoke pouring out of the roof," he said.
A local resident, Mrs Avril Thompson (71), and her husband, Roy, were among the 300 families evacuated from their homes. "I'm disgusted at what has happened. It's dreadful that people should put innocent people's lives at risk, and for what? It was awful to see so many babies and old people being taken from their homes into the school hall and cricket club at that hour of a winter's morning," she said.