A Catholic family escaped injury in a pipe bomb attack early this morning on their home in Armagh. The RUC say that a device was thrown at the front window of the building at Alexander Road and fell back into the garden, where it exploded. A couple and their four children were inside at the time. Minor damage was caused. British Army bomb experts removed a number of items for forensic examination.
Deputy First Minister, Seamus Mallon, said that it was described as a sectarian attack, but any violence, regardless of reason, must be condemned without reservation. He said that the current political impasse was creating space for what he called the dysfunctional elements in society to operate. They had no love of democracy or the Good Friday agreement. Mr. Malon said it was imperative that the political parties now moved speedily to resolve the current hold-up in creating the institutions of government that the overwhelming majority of people wanted to see being formed.
