SDLP councillor targeted in pipe bomb attack

The RUC say an SDLP councillor and his family were lucky to have escape injury in a pipe bomb attack on their home in Londonderry.

Gerard Diver, his wife and four children were in their home at Sutton Gardens in the Waterside area when the device exploded shortly before midnight on Thursday October 25.

The front door was blown in, shrapnel damaged the ceiling and walls of the hallway of the house, and a number of four-inch nails were recovered from the scene.

SDLP Chair of the Assembly group Alban Maginness has condemned the attack on his fellow councillor. Reacting to the news he said: “SDLP representatives have come under attack on many occasions. Such attacks will in no way deter us from carrying out our work and representing those in the community. I pay tribute to Gerard Diver and his family and offer my support at this time.”

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen has also condemned the pipe bomb attack. Speaking on Friday he said: "All violent acts are to be deplored but an attack on an elected representative is particularly sinister. In a week when we can at last look forward again to the new beginning promised by the Good Friday Agreement, those who carried out this attack and their like want to drag Northern Ireland back to the past. They will not be allowed to succeed." (AMcE)