A COUPLE whose semi-detached home had to be demolished following a gas explosion in an adjoining house have begun an action for damages in the High Court.

The dissident republican terrorists suspected of planting a bomb at the home of millionaire tycoon Lord Ballyedmond near the Irish border in Co Louth were today branded cowards by a Northern Ireland Office Minister.

Gardaí in Co Louth are investigating the discovery of an unexploded bomb at a construction site near the border yesterday afternoon.