Dissidents target golf club in bomb attack

Dissident republicans used a home-made bomb weighing up to 50lb to attack a golf club in Northern Ireland, it emerged today.

Windows and drain pipes were shattered in the blast at Lurgan, Co Armagh, but nobody was hurt.

The attack followed a series of elaborate hoaxes in the town involving republicans opposed to the peace process.

Ulster Unionist Assemblyman Sammy Gardiner claimed people could have been killed in the explosion.

He said: “The club is right beside the biggest park in Northern Ireland and at any other time a lot of youngsters are in the area. There would have been an awful lot of death.”

No warning was given ahead of the bombing and no terror organisation has claimed responsibility, but security sources have linked the attack to the dissidents.

Security guards were alerted to the bomb when an alarm system was activated at around 2.30am.

Army explosives experts were called in and spent hours at the scene.

The bomb was planted at the back of the club house, beside a car park.

With the area sealed off, no officials were available for comment.

The club has been attacked in the past by the Provisional IRA at the height of the violence in the North.