A booby trap bomb was found under a British soldier's car in Northern Ireland today.
It is thought the device could have been planted by dissident republicans close to the base where the British army major was stationed and he drove home without it being detected.
It then fell off and he discovered it as he was about to leave his home in Bangor, Co Down this morning.
Bomb disposal experts were later called in to carry out a series of controlled explosions in the seaside town’s Chatsworth area, off the Gransha Road, where several houses had to be evacuated.
PSNI Chief Superintendent Nigel Grimshaw said the damage would have been potentially catastrophic if the bomb had exploded.
"When you place any sort of device in a quiet residential area, where a lot of people would have been going about their daily business, the results could have been catastrophic - it could have killed or caused very serious injury," he said.
Acting chairman of the Policing Board Brian Rea also condemned today's attempted bomb attack.
Mr Rea said: "Those who planted the bomb this morning could have killed or injured anyone and I strongly condemn them for it; it is fortuitous that no one was injured or killed. There is no room for this type of attack in a society that overwhelmingly wants to work together to deliver peace and stability."
Peter Weir, a DUP Assembly member, who lives in Bangor, said those involved in today’s incident were lawless criminals intent on murder. "I have no doubt that, by their actions, the criminals are trying to send a message that they can come in to a law-abiding and peaceful part of Northern Ireland in order to peddle their own brand of evil. They are mistaken," he said.
"What we are dealing with here is a crazed bunch of fanatics who will stop at nothing in their attempts to drag Northern Ireland back in to violence and bloodshed. They must be crushed," he said.
Security forces in Derry are today continuing their investigations into a dissident republican car bomb attack outside a police station on the city’s Strand Road early yesterday. One of the several buildings badly damaged in the attack collapsed today as forensic officers were combing the scene.
PA
