Condemnation of ‘crude’ pipe bomb left at GAA club

SDLP councillor Declan O’Loan said a pipe bomb detonated overnight on Friday in the grounds of Clooney Gaels GAA on the Crosskeys Road causing scorch damage to the outside wall of a building on the grounds and breaking a window.

Mr O’Loan said the damage was discovered on Saturday morning by a club member.

Police said that the remains of a crude pipe bomb type device had been taken away for examination.

Cllr O’Loan described it as a “shocking and very serious incident”.

“This was a real bomb which damaged the building and could have caused serious injury or death to anyone handling it. I have no doubt that it was a deliberate attack on a GAA club from a loyalist source. It is disgraceful that those who work hard at this superb club which involves hundreds of young people in healthy sporting activities should be targeted in this way,” said Cllr O’Loan.

Also condemning the incident, North Antrim SF MLA Daithi McKay said: “I would encourage people and other clubs in the area to be extremely vigilant and anyone with information relating to the attack or any suspicious activity to bring it forward to the police.

“Such attacks belong in the past and no one wants to see any more of these attacks or any tit-for-tat attacks in response to this,” he said.

Alliance Councillor Jayne Dunlop: “It is sad and worrying that some people still feel that intimation and violence are acceptable in our society when the majority of people want to move on to a shared and peaceful future.”