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Child touched 100lb beer keg bomb | |
(about 10 hours later) | |
It has emerged a number of children had a narrow escape after a young boy touched part of a 100lb bomb found in a hedge in south Armagh. | |
Police said the child was playing just outside Jonesborough on Saturday afternoon when he came across the device, hidden inside a beer keg. | |
PSNI superintendent Alan McCrum said there could easily have been a tragedy. | |
"We had a 10-year-old boy who actually went up to the bomb and touched it not knowing what it was," he said. | |
"So it's very plain to see that it's only through circumstances that we're not dealing today with a much more serious set of circumstances." | |
The discovery of the bomb resulted in Finnegans Road and Molly Road being cordoned off. | |
Sinn Féin MP for Newry and Armagh Conor Murphy condemned the attack and said whoever was responsible had no support from the community. | Sinn Féin MP for Newry and Armagh Conor Murphy condemned the attack and said whoever was responsible had no support from the community. |
"It is disgraceful and I think the people involved in this, and I presume that this is some dissident republican group, have no support in that community and they certainly have no strategy to achieve any political objectives," he said. | "It is disgraceful and I think the people involved in this, and I presume that this is some dissident republican group, have no support in that community and they certainly have no strategy to achieve any political objectives," he said. |
DUP MLA William Irwin said the police were the intended targets. "Indeed, it would seem there was an attempt to lure police into the area." | DUP MLA William Irwin said the police were the intended targets. "Indeed, it would seem there was an attempt to lure police into the area." |
He continued: "This has been a tactic used in other dissident attacks and once again demonstrates the determination of some in Northern Ireland to take human life in pursuit of their goal to destabilise the province." | He continued: "This has been a tactic used in other dissident attacks and once again demonstrates the determination of some in Northern Ireland to take human life in pursuit of their goal to destabilise the province." |
The SDLP's Dominic Bradley said those who left the bomb showed "absolutely no consideration for the residents of the local area". | The SDLP's Dominic Bradley said those who left the bomb showed "absolutely no consideration for the residents of the local area". |
"It was an act of complete irresponsibility and one which all right-thinking people will condemn outright without reservation." | "It was an act of complete irresponsibility and one which all right-thinking people will condemn outright without reservation." |