Moneymore residents: We feared for our lives

‘Gardaí told us to get out as quick as we could’

TERRIFIED residents of Moneymore were forced to flee their homes, as an explosion shattered the quiet of a Sunday evening.

‘It was the scariest experience of my life,’ said one resident, whose house is near the area targeted, and would not like to be identified.

‘ To have a bomb go off at the back of your house and have gardai banging on your door telling you to “get out quick” was absolutely terrible. My dad saw the flashing blue lights behind the house, and my sister and me ran up to the back bedroom in time to see an orange flash with a huge explosion. We just panicked and ran downstairs, as the guards were banging on the door, and telling us to get out as quick as we could.’

The young woman and her family had to run out into the street, not even wearing shoes, and she said her little sister was terrified.

Terrified residents of Moneymore were forced to flee their homes, as an explosion shattered the quiet of a Sunday evening.

As armed gardai rushed to the scene of the fire bomb at around 9pm, those living nearby were evacuated from their homes, told to leave immediately and not to return until they get the all-clear.

“It was the scariest experience of my life,” said one resident, whose house is near the area targeted, and would not like to be identified.

“To have a bomb go off at the back of your house and have gardai banging on your door telling you to “get out quick” was absolutely terrible. My dad saw the flashing blue lights behind the house, and my sister and me ran up to the back bedroom in time to see an orange flash with a huge explosion. We just panicked and ran downstairs, as the guards were banging on the door, and telling us to get out as quick as we could.”

The young woman and her family had to run out into the street, not even wearing shoes, and she said her little sister was terrified.

“She only turned four that day, and she was screaming and calling my dad’s name,” she says. “We all had to run across the green and stay in my auntie’s house until we were let back home.”

Another resident said the atmosphere in Moneymore has changed dramatically in recent months.

“You’re living on your nerves around here, and everyone knows who is causing all this, but who knows how it will end?”, they told the Drogheda Independent.

“Moneymore is always really busy at Halloween with a lovely family atmosphere, but we barely had any callers this year, as parents were afraid to let their children out to trick or treat.”

Gardai are continuing to investigate the incident, which was thought to be caused by gas cylinders left in a car in Skelly’s Lane and set alight.

It happened hours after a suspect device was made safe in a car parked at St Mary’s Church, Drogheda.