Press Association
Sarah Stack
A man shot in the neck last month at his home on the Irish border has escaped a firebomb attack on his home, gardai said today. The 26-year-old Derry man fled unhurt from the latest attack just weeks after a gang gunned him down, abducted his girlfriend and shot dead her dog.
A bomb disposal team dismantled the incendiary device, which partially exploded at the house in the townland of Transallagh, near St Johnston, Co Donegal. Gardai said 11 properties evacuated shortly before 10pm last night remain cordoned off as officers carry out secondary searches of the vicinity. Just over four weeks ago the same man underwent emergency surgery after he was blasted in the neck by masked gunmen at his home close to the border. His girlfriend was bundled into a van before being dumped unharmed nearby while her three month old St Bernard pup was also caught in the hail of bullets. The young dog later died from his injuries.
A full security alert was sparked late last night when a telephone warning was made to a priest in Derry. A garda spokesman said local residents are not expected to be allowed back into their homes until later today.
The Defence Forces said an army bomb disposal team arrived to examine the viable improvised incendiary device at the property at 8.15am this morning. "The device had functioned prior to its discovery by gardai, but little damage had been done," said a spokesman. "No controlled explosion was carried out.
"The device was dismantled and the remains were handed over to gardai on scene for investigation into the incident. "The bomb disposal officer gave the all clear at 9.55am."
Neighbours of the man - named locally as Creggan taxi driver Declan Gallagher - finally returned to their homes around 4pm, more than 18 hours after their ordeal began. St Johnston parish priest Monsignor Daniel Carr said the residents in the rural community were shocked after the latest incident.
"I passed that area at around lunchtime today and the area was still completely cordoned off," he said. "I understand people are okay but they've never been exposed to that type of thing before so certainly it would be a very traumatic thing for them. "They would never have imagined themselves at what it would be like to be in that situation, and then they were dropped in it."
Mons Carr, of St Baithin's Church, said residents have been able to distance themselves from the incidents as they involve people from outside the local area. "I suppose they will survive alright, but they'll be in complete shock and because it is an experience they are not used to," he continued. "Obviously it is causing a lot of confusion. It is disconcerting. "The two incidents seem to be some kind of dispute going on between other people who are not from the area, so for that reason it seems more distant to the people who are living there. "It would be different if they were happening between two good neighbours."
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