A catholic civil servant escaped injury after a bomb went off under his car in Castlewellan, Co Down, on Saturday. Security sources said the device was potentially lethal and the man was fortunate it did not explode properly.
No paramilitary group has admitted responsibility but dissident loyalists are understood to have been involved. It is the first serious sectarian attack since the start of the Drumcree protests.
The 21-year-old man suffered minor leg injuries after the device exploded outside his home on Newcastle Road on Saturday morning.
He comes from a prominent Castlewellan family which is well known in GAA circles. However, local people believe it was simply a random sectarian attack. RUC sources said the device was crude but could have killed. The victim was getting into the vehicle when it went off. He was treated at Downshire Hospital for a cut to his thigh and shock and discharged shortly afterwards. The SDLP believes the attack was linked to the Drumcree protests. A local party councillor, Mr Eamonn O'Neill, who knows the family, condemned the attack.
"This young man comes from a hard-working family who have no extreme associations. I think this family's house was targeted because it was the last house in Castlewellan on the Newcastle Road. I believe it was a random sectarian attack and the terrorists' aim was clearly to kill or maim."
SDLP MP Mr Eddie McGrady said: "This bomb was a startling reminder that there are still people in the community who want to kill, maim and cause political turmoil."
The attack was also condemned by UUP Assembly member Mr Dermot Nesbitt: "Our community has had enough of terrorism. We all want an end to these attacks." RUC Supt Brendan McGuigan, who is leading the investigation, said he had "absolutely no doubt" the device was aimed to kill. "We have examined the car and the component parts of this device. This young man is extremely lucky to be alive," he said.
Meanwhile, a group of children escaped injury when they found a pipe bomb hidden in a wall in Armagh on Saturday. It is understood it was a loyalist device which was in storage. One of the children, an 11-yearold boy, played with the bomb for over an hour before handing it over to an adult, who contacted the RUC. It was dealt with by British army experts.
RUC Insp Gerard Doherty said: "The device contained explosive and these children had a very lucky escape. It is difficult to fathom the mentality of people who would leave a potentially lethal explosive device in a built-up area."
The device, a 10-inch piece of pipe filled with explosives, blew up while British army bomb disposal experts were trying to make it safe. No one was injured.
Police sources said the device was the first of its kind found in the area this year and may have been in storage to be used in the coming days. It had been stuffed inside a drainage hole in the wall close to a children's playground.
A 38-year-old man is being treated in hospital after being shot in a paramilitary-style shooting in a republican area of Belfast. He was shot in both ankles in Stanfield Street in the Markets area, near the city centre, yesterday. Local people blamed the Provisional IRA.