Bomb terror, evacuation in quiet Ashbourne estate

Traumatised Ashbourne residents watched in horror in the early hours of Saturday morning as a pipebomb exploded at a house in the town"s Milltown estate. More than 100 people had been evacuated from their homes before the explosion took place at around 1.30am, as army bomb disposal experts attempted to defuse the crude device. Nobody was injured in the incident. Elderly residents and small children shivering in their pyjamas were among those who waited in bitterly cold conditions for word to return to their homes after the alarm was raised late on Friday night. The terrifying incident began shortly after 10.30pm on Friday night when Gardai were alerted to a pipe bomb at the rear of a private house in the Milltown estate. Most of the houses in the estate were evacuated as a precautionary measure as a team from the army"s ordnance disposal unit examined when they described as 'a viable improvised explosive device'. According to Commandant Gavin Young of the Defence Forces press office, the bomb disposal team had examined the device and were carrying out procedures to defuse it and were about to approach it for a second time when it went off at around 1.35am. 'At the time, neither the bomb disposal officer nor the robot were next to the device,' Commdt Young said. Windows were shattered in the house where the device had been placed at the back door. The bomb disposal squad checked the area after the explosion and collected the remains of the device for forensic evidence. This was handed over to Gardaí at the scene, who are investigating the incident but are making no comment on what lay behind the placing of the device next to the house. One local resident said that people in the area were terrified. 'We were told there was a bomb and we had to leave the house. We had no idea what was happening. We were all at the top of the road when we heard this loud explosion. It was terrifying, particularly for the children who had been taken from their beds when the evacuation began,' she said. 'It was frightening at the time, but it even more worrying that this kind of thing could happen in what used to be a very quiet estate,' she added. Former county councillor Conor Tormey was driving by the estate at around 1am when he saw the crowd of people standing around. 'It was terrible to see children standing around, not able to go home and not knowing when they could go home,' he said. Mr Tormey drove a number of children to friends" houses where they stayed overnight. 'It was a very frightening experience for everyone. You hear of these things happening in other towns, but you don"t imagine it could happen here,' he added. Local councillor Joe Bonner said residents had been shocked and traumatised by the incident. 'People were terrified. This was a nice quiet area where some of Ashbourne"s oldest families were living. It is very unsettling,' he said. The device was the fifth to be dealt with by an army bomb disposal team on Friday. Four suspect devices had also been dealt with in Dublin earlier on Friday.