Pipe bomb attack 'not related to loyalist feud'

A bomb attack which damaged a van in Co Derry was not connected to the loyalist feud, police said today.

No-one was injured after a pipe bomb exploded underneath a vehicle at Hazeldene Avenue in Magherafelt at around 4.30am.

According to sources in the area, the vehicle belonged to a Protestant workman.

A number of families were removed from the area as Army bomb experts carried out a search of the area.

Police inspector Mark Hunter said they were keeping an open mind on the motive behind the incident.

“We can rule out that it was sectarian and we can also rule out that it was in any way connected to the criminal activity in the Belfast area,” he said.

Police said damage was caused to the front section of the Ford Transit van but no other vehicles or property have been affected.

SDLP Assembly member for the area Patsy McGlone blamed loyalists for the attack.

He said he and party colleagues would be meeting with police in Magherafelt later today to discuss the incident.

“Those responsible for this act of lunacy in a built up area are to be condemned outright for their actions. The sooner they are brought to account the better,” he said.

“There has been an increase in loyalist paramilitary activity in South Derry which must be brought under control before someone is killed,” he added.

The attack was condemned by DUP Assembly member for the area Rev William McCrea.

He said: “The fear and disturbance this caused to the community was absolutely disgusting.

“Irrespective of who planted this device, I am saying get off the backs of the people of Magherafelt,” he added.

Meanwhile, a woman whose home was attacked by loyalists in Belfast earlier this week, said she and her young son would have been killed if they had been in the house at the time.

Karen Brotherston left her home in London Street in east Belfast with two-year-old son Dylan just hours before her house was attacked with a nail bomb.

She has vowed never to return to the house: “We would have been killed. There are imprints of five inch nails going through the ceiling.

“I won’t go back to the house after that. I couldn’t take the risk to me and Dylan in the house on our own,” she added.