Family avoids injury after pipe bomb thrown at home fails to explode

A family escaped serious injury after a viable pipe bomb thrown at their home failed to explode.

A number of homes were evacuated in the Mayfield area on the northside of Cork city in the early hours of yesterday after the device was found outside a house in the Shannon Lawn estate.

Gardaí yesterday expressed concerns after the incident, describing the use of a pipe bomb-type device as a serious escalation of a dispute.

Supt Mick Comyns said gardaí are keeping an open mind on the motive for the attack and are following several lines of enquiry. “This is a serious development though. If this device exploded, it had the potential to cause serious injury or worse,” he said.

Gardaí were due yesterday to speak to family members who live in the targeted home, while detectives conducted door-to-door enquiries in the estate.

Supt Comyns appealed to anyone who saw anyone or anything suspicious in the Shannon Lawn area between midnight on St Patrick’s Day and 4am yesterday to contact gardaí at Mayfield. The alarm was raised around 3.30am and when gardaí arrived at the scene, they found the improvised explosive device on ground to the front of the house.

The family reported hearing a noise or a bang outside their home about 90 minutes earlier which leads detectives to believe the device may have been thrown at the house earlier. About a dozen homes were evacuated and gardaí requested the services of an army bomb disposal team which arrived on scene at 5.12am.

Ordnance officers assessed the suspect device and determined that it was viable. While its fuse had not been lit, the device contained enough explosive material to cause serious injury or death if it had exploded. The device was removed to a secure military location for deconstruction and examination.

Items of evidential nature have been handed over to gardaí for forensic examination. The scene was declared safe at 7.10am and residents were cleared to return home.

Supt Comyns appealed to anyone with information to contact gardaí in confidence on 021 455 8510.