Homes are evacuated as pipe bombs made safe

ARMY bomb disposal officers last night made safe two pipe bombs in a residential area of Londonderry.

Police were called to a property at Rossdowney Road at lunchtime after a man found two devices at the back door of his home.

Mum Michelle Harris, who lives next door to the property where the devices were found, was one of several residents told by police to leave her home. She waited in a car by the roadside with her partner for her three children to arrive back from school on the bus.

She said: “My son Reece is seven and he was very upset, he thought his home was blown up, that it was gone.

“He was crying thinking that the worst had happened to his mummy in the house. It’s not what you want to come home to.”

Last night the Army said the devices had been taken away for forensic examination.

PSNI Inspector Jonny Hunter said: “Thankfully no one was injured because of the reckless actions of criminals who showed absolutely no regard for the community by placing two potentially deadly devices in a built-up area.”

DUP MLA Gary Middleton urged those behind the attack to “get off the backs of the community”.

“This is a very serious incident,” he said. “It is devastating for the area. I would condemn this outright. For children to come home and see the flashing lights and the police cordons blocking their way home has caused a lot of distress.”