Six escape injury in Dublin attack

Six people, including two children, escaped injury when a hand grenade was thrown into a house on the south side of Dublin last night.

The incident happened at about 2.20 am at Knocknaree Avenue in Drimnagh.

Gardai said a man jumped from a car and threw the device through the downstairs living room window of the house.

The device detonated upon impact and caused substantial damage to the house. Gardaí say the occupants of the house were upstairs at the time.

Knocknaree Avenue remains sealed off while gardai carry out a technical examination at the house.

A preliminary examination suggested the device used in the attack was a hand grenade, a Garda statement said.

“When it exploded it caused extensive damage to the hall and living room and some damage to the upstairs rooms.”

There were four adults, a teenager and a six-year-old boy in the house but none of them was in the house at the time.

“A second scene has also been sealed off following the discovery of a burned out car on a nearby road. The vehicle, a red Fiat Punto, was found on Sperrin Road, close to the scene of the attack,” the Garda statement said.

It is thought the incident may be linked to an ongoing feud between criminal elements in the area.

Earlier this week, a house occupied by an elderly couple in Cork Street on Dublin’s south inner city was targeted in a drive-by shooting. There were no injuries in that attack.

Parish priest for the area Fr Martin Cosgrove said the attackers showed no respect for life.

“In these situations innocent people get caught up or can be unlucky and be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.

“But the people who carry out these type of things, they have no regard for human life at all, obviously. They have no appreciation of where their actions can lead, nor do I think they care either. Words of condemnation are just a waste of time. These people are just not interested.”

Fr Cosgrove said a strong community spirit would help overcome such attacks.

“People in this community are fantastic, resilient people and while these things happen here and in other communities, they relate to a tiny, tiny minority of people,” he said.

“The vast majority of people are getting on with their lives.

“I have worked as a priest in a number of places over the years and I have never met a better community spirit than I have met here.”

Gardaí appealed to anyone who may have been in the Knocknaree Avenue or Sperrin Road areas between 1.30am and 2.30am to contact them.