Police said Tuesday a pipe bomb left close to a primary school in Belfast was designed to kill and its discovery had averted a potential tragedy
emergency services were called to the scene near St. Teresa's primary school in West Belfast in the early hours of Tuesday after a report of a fire at a business premises, the Irish Times reported.
During an examination of the scene, police found the bomb. A number of homes in the area were evacuated and St. Teresa's was forced to close for the day. Army bomb disposal experts attended the scene and the device was removed.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Superintendent Mark Hamilton condemned those responsible.
"The device has been taken away for further examination but we can confirm that it was a viable pipe bomb which had the capacity to kill or maim," he said. "It is perhaps particularly chilling given the fact that there is a primary school close to the scene. This is a residential area and we could have been looking at serious tragedy here." he said.
