A blast bomb delivered to a Limerick business premises yesterday was intended for a public house in the city which was recently firebombed, gardai believe.
The bomb, which was hand-delivered to the Tait Business Centre in Dominic Street at around 1 p.m., exploded as it was being dealt with by Army bomb disposal experts.
No one was injured, but an Army spokesman said the device was capable of causing serious injury or even death.
The parcel bomb, described by the Army as an improvised explosive device, was similar to devices posted to tourist offices in Dublin and Sligo in the run-up to the May referendums on the Belfast Agreement. Gardai said it was too early to speculate about who was responsible for yesterday's attack.
They said the parcel was addressed to a licensed premises in the city which was firebombed about a fortnight ago. It's believed this pub was again the intended target and the parcel was delivered to the business centre by mistake.
The parcel became jammed in the letter-box at the centre, and in attempting to pull it through a security man exposed wires protruding from the device.
He removed it to a car-park at the rear of the building and notified local gardai, who called in the Army bomb disposal team from Collins Barracks in Cork.
The building was evacuated and the surrounding area cordoned off while the Army team attempted to deal with it, using a remote control robot. It exploded during this operation, causing slight damage to two vehicles.
The bomb contained a half-inch copper pipe packed with explosives and surrounded by screws and pieces of metal. It was fitted with a device designed to make the parcel explode on being opened, the Army spokesman said. "It had the capacity to maim and damage and it was fortunate nobody was hurt."
The Army team had managed to photograph and X-ray the package, which may prove useful in forensic examinations now under way. While the device was similar to those posted to tourist offices in May, it was not exactly the same in make-up, the spokesman added. The previous attacks were blamed on the Loyalist Volunteer Force.
In a separate incident early yesterday, two petrol-bombs were found still lighting outside the premises of a Limerick solicitor.
Gardai on patrol at 5.15 a.m. in O'Connell Street discovered the petrol-bombs at the offices of State solicitor, Mr Michael Murray.
Det Insp John Kerin, Henry Street, said the windows were scorched and cracked. One of a number of lines of inquiry was the possibility that somebody prosecuted by Mr Murray in the past was involved. It was the second attack on the premises. Gardai have appealed to anyone who might have seen anything unusual in O'Connell Street between 4.30 a.m. and 5.30 a.m. yesterday to contact them.