50 homes evacuated as pipe bomb defused

MORE than 50 households had to be evacuated for several hours after a viable pipe bomb was discovered in a Cork suburb.

The alert was raised at 10.30am yesterday when the owner of a green Ford Focus discovered that one of the windows in the vehicle had been smashed.

He discovered a bag had been thrown inside which contained an improvised explosive device (IED).

He removed it from the vehicle and placed it behind the wall of a garden close by.

The man, who is in his 30s, then contacted the gardaí.

Gardaí immediately cordoned off the scene, evacuated a large number of neighbouring households and closed several off roads in the area.

In the meantime, gardaí contacted the army who sent a bomb disposal team from Collins Barracks to the scene a short time later.

They spent several hours at the scene at Kilnap Place, near the junction of Popham’s Road, Farranree, before taking the device to a safe place.

An army spokesman confirmed that the device was viable.

“We removed it from the scene and took it to a safe place for analysis. We then rendered the device safe and handed it over to gardaí,” the army spokesman said.

He said that pipe bombs had been discovered on a fairly regular basis in Waterford, Dublin and Limerick, but this was the first found in Cork city.

Garda forensic experts are now examining the device in the hope of finding clues to the identities of who made and planted it.

Detectives seeking a motive do not believe the owner of the car or the owner of the garden it was placed in were the intended victims. While they are working on a number of theories, they think it may be possible that it could have been intended as warning to somebody else living in the area.

Detectives think the pipe bomb may have been placed inside the Ford Focus the previous night.

Superintendent Tom Myers, who is leading the garda inquiry, said gardaí had been carrying out door-to-door inquiries in the area to see if anybody had witnessed any suspicious activity the previous night.

“We are appealing to anybody who saw or heard anything suspicious or unusual, no matter how insignificant they think it is, to contact us as soon as possible.

Anybody with information is asked to contact Watercourse Road Garda Station at [phone] or Mayfield Garda Station at [phone].