A device thrown at the home of a leading Sinn Féin member yesterday has been described as an elaborate hoax. Mr Alex Maskey, the party chief whip in the Assembly, was at Stormont when the object, which resembled a pipe-bomb, was found in the garden of his home in Andersonstown in west Belfast. He is treating the incident as a serious threat.
Mr Gerry Adams blamed the UDA, saying: "Sinn Féin members had been advised some weeks ago that a loyalist attack on a party member was imminent. There is no doubt in my mind that the attack on Alex Maskey's home and family related to this threat and is the work of the UDA."
Mr Maskey said his son was at the house in Gartree Place at the time. "I am told it is a fairly elaborate device, a metal tube with bolts and nails attached," he said.