Bomb blows up under car of teacher in Liverpool

An improvised nail bomb detonated underneath a teacher's car in Liverpool yesterday, apparently timed to coincide with the end of the school day.

Nobody was hurt, but police said children were leaving the independent Roman Catholic school at the time and it was "only down to good luck" that no one was killed or seriously injured.

The firework-based device went off outside St Edward's College, in Sandfield Park, West Derby, at around 2.50pm. The college was evacuated immediately.

Damon Younis, 38, who lives next to the school, said: "It was a nail bomb. The car was at the school entrance."

Police later confirmed the car, a silver saloon, belonged to a teacher and said they had noted the timing of the explosion, near the close of afternoon lessons.

Superintendent Ian Pilling described the crime as "despicable". One student said: "The area where the bomb went off was very close to where the young primary school children leave the school."