Baby lucky to escape injury in grenade attack

Kyle Keogh was asleep on a couch in the living room when the grenade exploded right outside the window of the Monasterboice house at 11pm.

The attack formed part of a 24-hour wave of violence which involved three shootings and a grenade attack believed to be carried out by the King Ratt drug gang.

"I was actually in the kitchen when I heard a ferocious bang and the sound of breaking glass, and there was a bright flash," his terrified mother Michelle told the Herald.

"I didn't know what had happened, but I knew it wasn't a banger or a firework, it was much louder."

The grenade blew a hole in the path under the front window of the house, as well as damaging the front of the house and the top of the window frame.

The double glazing in the house withstood the blast, but four panes of glass in the windows of the neighbouring house were shattered.

"This was a case of mistaken identity. There is no reason why anyone would bomb our home," Michelle stressed.

"It's incredible to think it could happen."

Other houses nearby on Monasterboice Road have been targeted with gunshots and improvised explosive devices in the past.

One of those families, the Kennys, today told the Herald they did not believe last night's bomb was meant for them.

"I don't think the bomb was meant for us. We haven't been told it was anyway," said Adele Kenny who lives two doors from where the grenade was thrown.

Garda Mark Clarke was also shot in the stomach while guarding the Kenny home following a previous incident -- a shooting -- at the property in September 2006.

Three teens are being questioned today by gardai after 24 hours of shotgun and grenade attacks carried out in the King Ratt drug feud -- including the Monasterboice Road incident.

The attacks were carried out following a row at a licensed premises in Drimnagh last Sunday evening.

Associates of gangster King Ratt are believed to be responsible for a 24-hour cycle of violence in the capital following the attack. A 16-year-old who was discovered with a shotgun in his possession was arrested near St James's Hospital in the early hours of yesterday morning.

He is being questioned over an attack on a house in Drimnagh earlier that night.

Arrested

A 17-year-old teenager and an 18-year-old youth were also arrested and are being questioned by gardai.

In one attack, the mother of murder victim Eddie McCabe narrowly avoided being shot.

The 'new wave' of young gangsters in the Crumlin area are being blamed for the violence -- in particular those associated with the King Ratt gang, including a woman in her 20s.

Gardai believe they staged attacks under the cover of fireworks, knowing emergency services would be stretched.

hnews@herald.ie