Couple survive pipe bomb attack

GARDAÍ said a pipe bomb thrown through the window of a house could have caused serious damage if it had gone off.

Investigating officers said none of the occupants were in the front downstairs room at the time.

The attack took place at 12.30am yesterday at a house in the Lindisfarne area of Clondalkin, west Dublin.

“This was a viable device, a pipe bomb, which was thrown through the window, but failed to explode,” said a Garda source.

He said a couple, parents of grown-up children, were upstairs at the time.

“If the device had exploded it would have caused a lot of damage, depending on the shrapnel,” said the garda.

The couple were not the intended target and officers are investigating if any of the other people living there may have been. Detectives said they had no motive at this stage.

Gardaí called the army bomb squad once they were alerted. Gardaí evacuated the house and the immediate area and sealed off the scene.

The army’s explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team arrived at 2am.

A spokesman for the Defence Forces said they examined the device at the scene, inside the house, and made it safe.

The team left at 2.30am and took the device away to barracks for further tests.

The spokesman said the device contained “explosive content which had the potential to go off”.

The device has been handed over to the Garda Technical Bureau for further ballistic and forensic examination.

Gardaí described the device as “reasonably well constructed”, indicating that it was produced by former paramilitaries with explosive knowledge.

Gardaí across Dublin and other cities have noticed a sharp increase in pipe bomb attacks in the past year.

They are being used not only as part of criminal disputes, but also by people trying to settle personal rows.

Gardaí have no descriptions yet of possible suspects for yesterday’s attack or information of any vehicles used by the bombers.