Cache of 16 petrol bombs found by police in west Belfast

Officers in Lanark Way had a lucky escape after another of the improvised explosives was thrown at them on Monday night but failed to ignite properly.

A PSNI officer from West Belfast posted on social media: “Unfortunately, after a peaceful and generally quiet evening some genius thought it would be a great idea to lob a petrol bomb at us despite the fact that we were standing amongst a crowd of people that included some very small children.

“The sheer recklessness of this frankly puts my head away, why do some people think it’s acceptable to throw items such as this at another human being?”

It smashed on the ground without hitting anyone.

On Wednesday night police carried out further searches.

The officer added: “We located 16 petrol bombs in the Colinview Street area.

“Needless to say these were stashed to be thrown at officers again this evening.

“Have a think about what you are doing engaging in this type of behaviour, it can’t be stressed enough how dangerous this is.

“Are we really promoting a society where people are effectively trying to set light to police officers at their day’s work?”