Pensioner escapes police station bombing bid

Dissident republicans were believed to be behind an attempted bombing of a police station in east Belfast in which an elderly man narrowly escaped injury.

A crude pipe device was hurled at Mount Pottinger police station in the nationalist Markets area of the city last night, but fell short, landing in the backyard of a pensioner’s house.

The man lifted the device before contacting the police. It was later dealt with by Army bomb experts.

Inspector Richard Graham said the device could have caused serious injury.

“Whoever was behind throwing the device has obviously absolutely no regard either for the local community or for the police officers who work in the station providing a service to the local community.

“If it had exploded, obviously injuries could have been caused,” he added.

Meanwhile, three elderly people were injured when a device was thrown into their Belfast home and exploded.

A man and two women, all in their 70s, were in the house in Ambleside Street in the loyalist Shankill Road area when the device exploded, said police.

Minutes before the blast two youths were spotted cycling past the house.

One woman suffered an eye injury, the other a leg wound and the man shock.

Police said the pensioners had lived in the house for years and they did not know what was behind the attack.