No Injuries As Derry House Hit By Bomb

A bomb blast at a house in Londonderry is being investigated by the police - with so called 'vigilantes' involved in the outrage.

The house was badly smoke damaged in the overnight explosion where it has been reported that a masked man threw a device at the property on the Glenbank Road in the city at approximately 11pm on Monday.

The house sustained a broken window and extensive smoke damage but there were no injuries as no one was in the building at the time of the attack.

The Foyle SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan condemned those responsible: "This has endangered the lives of vulnerable people in our community and has left many elderly people shaken," he said, urging witnesses to bring any information to police and also saying that self-appointed vigilantes were to blame.

"This is an absolutely appalling attack on the home of a pensioner," he said.

"We have laws in place and I would urge people to abide by these laws and to allow them to be enforced.

"There is no place in society for self-appointed vigilante groups.

"With these type of actions they pose much more of a threat to society than the people that they target," he said.

Sinn Fein MLA Martina Anderson also condemned the attack as "completely unacceptable".

The Alliance MLA Trevor Lunn has also said that the attack could have killed: "I do not want to think what could have happened if there was anybody in the house at the time. This device could have resulted in people being seriously injured or killed.

"I can not comprehend what could motivate an individual to carry out such an attack.

"If anybody has any information about this attack then they must contact the police," he urged.

Gun Attack

Police are also investigating reports of a separate shooting in Co Antrim on Monday with a shot fired through a front window of a house at Culramoney Road, Ballymoney, at just after midnight. Reports said that two people were in the house at the time but no-one was in the room and there were no injuries.

The police have appealed for anyone with information to contact them.

(BMcC/GK)