BELFAST, Northern Ireland, April 20 (UPI) -- Officers responding to a fake emergency call in Northern Ireland escaped death when a booby-trap bomb failed to detonate, police said Wednesday.
Investigators said the explosive device was attached to a gatepost to a path leading to the walk along the Lagan River in Belfast, the Belfast Telegraph reported. The man who placed the emergency call just before midnight Monday said a woman was being attacked in the area, and the officers, trying to find her discovered the bomb.
Superintendent Chris Noble said the Police Service of Northern Ireland is treating the incident as attempted murder.
"Anybody walking in through that gate had the potential to trigger that device," he said.
Noble said there was no evidence yet on who planted the bomb.
Ronan Kerr, a young Catholic who joined the PSNI last year, was killed April 2 by a booby-trap bomb left under his car in Omagh. Two men who had been held for questioning were released Tuesday after almost two weeks in custody, RTE reported.
