Bomb blasts home of Tyrone elderly couple

Two pensioners escaped injury when a bomb exploded at their home in Co Tyrone, it emerged today.

The blast ripped into the front of the house in the Ballymagory area of Strabane, around midnight, causing substantial damage.

A man and woman who lived there only managed to avoid harm by sheer luck, police said.

Superintendent Clifford Best said: “This is an horrific attack on the home of an elderly couple.

“Up until recently the room that was at the centre of this attack was used as a bedroom by one of the couple as she had trouble climbing stairs.

“It’s only by pure luck that she has not been seriously injured.”

No motive for the attack has been established. As detectives and forensics experts trawled through the debris, police said it would take time to discover what type of device was used in the bombing.