Army bomb experts remnants of a “very crude” device in east Belfast

POLICE have revealed that an explosion in east Belfast on Wednesday evening was caused by a “very crude device”.

The incident happened at a house in Kenilworth Place, off the Newtownards Road, at about 20:30 GMT on Wednesday.

No-one was in the house at the time and no-one was injured.

Police evacuated a number of homes for a period while bomb experts went to the property to examine the remnants of the device.

The PSNI initially said the explosion had been caused by a pipe bomb.

However, on Thursday morning the police revised this to reveal that in fact the explosion was caused by a “very crude device”.

Community worker Jim Wilson said residents in the area were angry at the attack.

“It’s just another fact of living in an interface that these things happen,” he said.

“But they were pretty angry that an individual house had been selected, for whatever reason, for someone to plant a device like that, because my young grandson lives three or four doors down and there’s young children play in this area on a regular basis.

“If that had exploded if any of them children were about… God knows what would have happened.”

The Newtownards Road between Bridge End and Templemore Avenue was temporarily closed during the alert.

Ulster Unionist MLA Michael Copeland said he understood that there was a bang and people close by found a fire which they put out with a bucket of water.

“This is unnerving, particularly for children. It does spook people. It adds to the general feeling that things are not all the way they should be,” he said.

Meanwhile, a security alert in Newtownabbey on Wednesday night has been declared an elaborate hoax.

Army bomb disposal experts dealt with a suspicious object at Altnacreeve Park.

A number of homes were evacuated but residents were allowed to return at about 2.40 am.