A WOMAN and children have escaped physical injury after a pipe bomb was thrown at a property in Co Down in the early hours of yesterday.
However, police said they were left shaken by the incident at a house in the Killaire Wood Lane area of Bangor shortly before 2.30am.
Detective Sergeant Rhonda Magennis, who has appealed for information, described the attack as "reckless", adding the consequences could have been "devastating".
"We received a report at around 2.30am that an object was thrown at a house in the area a short time earlier," she said.
"ATO were called to the scene to examine the object, which was located at the front of the property, and declared it to be a viable pipe bomb-type device.
"Thankfully, a woman and children who were in the property were not injured, However, they have been left shaken by this reckless attack.
"The consequences could have been devastating and a number of local residents had to be evacuated from their homes. The have now been allowed to return to their homes and we thank them for their patience."
North Down Green Party MLA Rachel Woods said: “Throwing an explosive device at a house is a totally reckless act.
“Killaire Wood is a residential area with many people bringing up children and leading busy lives there.
“This pipe bomb could have caused significant damage to any one of the houses in the vicinity.
“Worse still, it could have caused serious injury to anyone leaving their home to head out to work, or coming home from work or a night out.
“Families were moved out of their houses last night during the security operation. It’s entirely unacceptable that people had to experience this level of disruption and concern because of the recklessness of others."
Alliance councillor Connie Egan also hit out at those responsible for the attack.
The Bangor representative said: “This is a built-up area and this incident could have resulted in injury or even worse for residents here.
“I utterly condemn those behind this utterly reckless act, which saw residents disrupted and evacuated from their homes for a period of time.
"The culprits are not wanted in this area and need to be taken off the streets to keep people safe. I urge anyone with information on this incident to contact police with it immediately.”
