Parents recall bomb terror

Parents and children run for cover

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Children and their parents were sent fleeing in terror as a bomb was thrown during their journey to school in Belfast on Wednesday.

The pupils of Holy Cross Roman Catholic Primary School have been running the gauntlet of anger and abuse from their Protestant neighbours for the past three days.

On the third day a pipe bomb was thrown at police lines attempting to protect the 100 children and their parents as they made their way through through the mob, escorted by police and troops.

Several of the terrified children began to cry and one woman fainted.

AUDIO Parents tell of their terror after the pipe bomb explosion 0.45 MB / 41 secs WAV sound

One of the parents, Isabel McGrann, who had escorted her seven-year-old daughter Emma, told The Associated Press: "When the bomb went off I was scared to turn round to look behind me. I thought the children and parents that were just behind me were dead."

She added: "We had to grab every child we could to get them through the school gates. The kids come first."

Another, unnamed, parent told CNN: "I just froze and grabbed my daughter and began to cry."

She said she felt "total disbelief" at the violence, and that "nothing could justify this."

"They're child abusers," said the aunt of a girl who had just been walked to class, referring to Protestant protesters.

"It's terrible to put young ones through that," said the mother of the same girl. "They should be ashamed of themselves."

The school's head teacher Anne Tanney, said some of the girls arrived in a "terrible state of panic."

She added: "I'm really horrified and disgusted that this kind of thing could happen to children. To think that someone would throw a blast bomb is unbelievable."

The Protestants in Ardoyne Road, who are living in a Catholic area, say their action is in retaliation for attacks on their homes by Catholics.

They have also said the children are being used as a cover for members of paramilitary Republican groups to enter Protestant areas and to taunt and threaten members of the Protestant community.

The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association and Loyalist Volunteer Force, said it had carried out the bomb attack.