POLICE believe a pipe bomb attack in Derry’s Waterside area may have been sectarian.
Damage was caused to the front of a house in the loyalist Bonds Place area when the device was thrown at the house shortly before 11pm on Tuesday. Ammuniton technical officers were called to the scene and a number of homes were evacuated following the attack.
A police spokesman said no-one was injured and no-one was present in the house at the time.
“What occurred in the Bonds Place area last night could have had extremely serious consequences and we could have been dealing with serious injuries,” spokesman said.
PSNI detective inspector, Johnny Hunter said police were investigating the possibility that Tuesday’s attack was a “sectarian hate crime”.
The detective inspector said the device was a small pipe bomb which could have had serious consequences.
“It did explode and it caused some damage but thankfully there were no injuries,“ Mr Hunter said.
The attack was also condemned by DUP assembly member, Gary Middleton. Mr Middleton said people living in the area were very angry over the incident.
“If anyone had been near this device they could have been very seriously injured or killed,” Mr Middleton said.
Sinn Féin councillor Christopher Jackson said people living in the Waterside area did not support such attacks.
“It could have caused serious injury to anyone in the vicinity,” Mr Jackson said.
