Pipe bomb cause of blast

A blast close to where three young boys perished in a sectarian petrol bomb attack three years ago was caused by a pipe bomb-type device, police said today.

No one was hurt in the early-morning explosion in Ballymoney, Co Antrim, but a car and fence were damaged.

The device went off at 4am in the predominantly loyalist Carnany Park, scene of the deaths of Richard, Mark and Jason Quinn.

Detectives investigating the new attack in an enclosed yard at the back of a house are understood to have ruled out a sectarian motive.

The explosion came amid continued tensions between rival loyalist paramilitary factions in Northern Ireland.

Neighbouring homes were evacuated and the area cordoned off for a while as Army bomb disposal experts examined the scene.