SDLP condemns sectarian nail bomb attack

The SDLP has condemned last night’s nail bomb attack on a Catholic woman in Dunmurry, Co Down as a "return to the dark days of the past".

The RUC suspect the attack, which left the woman uninjured but suffering from severe shock, was sectarian.

The device was thrown through the front window of the house at Upper Dunmurry Lane, causing minor damage. A silver car believed to have been used in the attack was found burned out nearby.

The SDLP MLA for Lagan Valley, Ms Patricia Lewsley, said the attack was intended to kill or seriousinjury to the occupants of the house.

"Nobody wants to see incidents like last night’s, other than those bent on the spread of destruction and despair" she said.

"This highlights the need for politicians of every persuasion to grapple with the outstanding difficulties facing the Agreement, to send a signal out to the thugs behind last night’s outrage that their day is gone, and their ways will no longer be tolerated."

Elsewhere in the North, a man and his two teenage children escaped injury in an attack on their house in Curlew Way in Derry.

The RUC spokeswoman said the remains of what appears to be a pipe bomb were found in the front garden of the house. It had caused minor damage.

And in Belfast, a 29-year-old man is recovering in hospital after being shot in the right ankle.

He was walking along an alley off New Barnsley Crescent shortly after midnight when he was hit on the head. He was then shot in the ankle by one of his two attackers, the RUC said.