British army make Antrim pipe bomb safe

A pipe bomb thrown at a Co Antrim house was made safe tonight when British army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion…

A pipe bomb thrown at a Co Antrim house was made safe tonight when British army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion.

The device is believed to have lain undiscovered in the garden of the house in Ballymena until late afternoon when a little heard of republican group claimed it carried out the attack on Monday night.

Several houses around the targeted property in Knockeen Road were evacuated while the army dealt with the device.

An RUC spokesman said a number of items had been taken away for examination.

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The Catholic Reaction Force (CRF) claimed responsibility for the attack in calls to Belfast newsrooms.

The group also said it was behind a gun attack on a house in Cloughmills, Co Antrim during the night in which an 11-year-old boy escaped uninjured when a bullet smashed through his bedroom window as he slept.

The anonymous caller said the CRF was also behind an attack on another Ballymena house last week.

PA