'Dissidents behind bombing'

The device exploded before the couple could be moved out

An 82-year-old County Tyrone man targeted in a bomb attack has said he believes he was singled out because of his role on the local police liaison committee.

John Devine and his 82-year-old wife Eileen were asleep in their Ballymagorry home when the device exploded on a window sill.

Police believe dissident republicans were behind the attack.

Their house, which is just outside Strabane, was badly damaged by the blast, but the couple escaped serious injury.

A warning had been phoned to a charity, but the device exploded before the couple could be moved out.

The attack took place at about midnight on Friday.

Mr Devine said it was a cowardly attack, but it would not force him off the liaison committee.

These people are as low as sewer rats. I said a prayer for them - if they would get sense John Devine

"The only way they will get me out of this house, or out of Ballymagorry, is that they will have to shoot me," he said.

"I will still remain a JP (Justice of the Peace) and I will still remain a member of the police liaison committee.

"I was born in this village 82 years ago and I will die in it.

"These people are as low as sewer rats. I said a prayer for them - if they would get sense."

Police say it was sheer luck no-one was hurt.

Until recently the elderly woman was using the downstairs room as a bedroom due to difficulty using the stairs. That room took the brunt of the explosion.

Detectives said it would be some time before they knew what kind of explosive device was used.

'Pure luck'

PSNI Superintendent Clifford Best said: "This is an horrific attack on the home of an elderly couple.

"Up until recently, the room that was at the centre of this attack was used as a bedroom by one of the couple as she had trouble climbing stairs.

"It's only by pure luck that she has not been seriously injured."

SDLP councillor Eugene McMenamin said he had been to see the bomb damage.

"This attack on 82-year-old defenceless senior citizens is despicable. I have known the couple for many years. They are held in high esteem by both sections in our community, they are the pillars of our society and for evil men to carry out this act defies logic," he said.