Outrage over 'disgusting and unjustifiable' attack
A LEADING loyalist has claimed those responsible for yesterday's pipe bomb attack at a Roman Catholic primary school "are a disgrace and an embarrassment to my community".
PUP representative Ken Wilkinson, who lives in the Antrim area, joined unionist politicians in condemning the incident.
Mr Wilkinson said he believed those responsible were "the same group who had been carrying out attacks throughout Antrim town".
Earlier pipe bomb attacks in Antrim were claimed by a group calling themselves the 'Real UFF'.
"These loyalists who have carried out this attack are a disgrace and an embarrassment to my community," he said.
"They are attacking children from the same community that gathered outside chapel the morning after the two soldiers – Sappers Mark
Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar – were killed to pay their respects.
"The people who have done this are not loyalists. They are dividing the community. Police need to get on top of these people. This was a viable device and we could have been dealing with a dead child, which is a total disgrace."
Chairman of the Assembly's education committee, Mervyn Storey, said those who targeted a primary school during term time "clearly intended to murder children".
The DUP MLA said: "Such people are truly evil. People throughout Northern Ireland want to see a robust and hard-hitting response to this
incident."
Mr Storey said that people "rightly expect their children are safe at school" and "would never have believed that the police would have to respond to the attempted bombing of a primary school".
UUP MLA for the area, Danny Kinahan, said the security alerts were "disgusting and utterly unjustifiable". He added that those "who would plant a bomb or even orchestrate a hoax at a school are beneath contempt".
"An attempt to terrify children as they start the year, and to make them feel insecure in the school environment, is frankly disgusting and
utterly unjustifiable," he said.
South Antrim MP William McCrea said: "It is obscene that any person would leave an explosive device anywhere, but to plant a bomb at a
primary school is utterly disgraceful."
He said the pipe bomb attack "proves just how depraved some of those who want to drag Northern Ireland backwards are".
"To target a primary school and to put innocent children at risk is plumbing new depths."
Alliance leader and justice minister David Ford said: "There have been a number of pipe bombs found in the Antrim area in recent times and this is an extremely troubling trend.
"Those who wish to cause disruption and fear must never prevail."
SDLP MLA Thomas Burns said: "There is only one place for the sort of people who left this device and that is in jail for a long time."
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Weather for Belfast
Wednesday 15 February 2012
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Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
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