Opinion

Pipe bombers must be apprehended

LITTLE is known about the partial detonation of a pipe bomb in the garden of a family home in on Saturday.

Police were called to Norglen Parade in the Turf Lodge area of the city on at 10.35 on Saturday night investigating reports of a suspicious object in the area.

What they discovered was the pipe bomb which had partially exploded and caused some damage to the house while a woman was in the building.

It is too early to say what exactly was the target of such a lethal device. However, setting off any explosives, whether home made or military grade, could end with disastrous consequences, not just for the intended target but for anyone who lives near or anyone unlucky enough to be passing the scene of the blast.

Over the decades of the troubles there were hundreds of casualties of bomb attacks who just happened to be in the vicinity of the explosions.

To manufacture an explosive device is a dangerous procedure in itself and could end with death or injury to anybody nearby if a device explodes prematurely.

It also indicates a level of determination to carry out a murderous attack, so whoever is responsible may well do something similar in the future.

Most people will react with horror that there are some who think it is perfectly all right for them to endanger the lives of entirely innocent people.

The police have appealed for information about this incident and it is essential that anyone who knows anything about it should give those details to the PSNI. Given the level of callousness and carelessness exhibited by this incident, it is unlikely that whoever carried out the attack will be dissuaded from such activities in the future.

They must therefore be apprehended and brought before the courts. To leave them on the streets makes it likely that they will carry out further attacks, putting innocent people at risk of injury or death again.