One man has been taken to hospital.” His injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.
The device exploded close to the entrance of Euston Street primary school, whose Woodstock Road entrance has been closed as forensic officers search the area.
Suspicion will fall on dissident republican terror groups who have in recent years targeted prison officers.
In November 2011, the New IRA murdered David Black, a 52-year-old prison officer who was shot dead in an ambush on the M1 motorway between Lurgan and Portadown. The father of two was killed on his way to work at the top security Maghaberry prison, outside Belfast. He was the first prison officer to be killed by paramilitaries in 20 years.
Dissident republican prisoners have been involved in long-running disputes with the Maghaberry prison authorities over demands to be separated from other inmates and be treated as political prisoners
Northern Ireland’s first minister condemned those responsible for the attack on Friday morning.
Arlene Foster said she told the deputy chief constable of the PSNI in a telephone call that “we stand behind him” in the face of this “disgraceful and despicable attack”.
Chris Lyttle, East Belfast member of the Stormont assembly, described the attack as “a sickening echo of the past”.
Ulster Unionist party councillor Chris McGimpsey also condemned the attack and said it was a “worrying development.”
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