‘Extremely Dangerous’ Bomb Destroyed

Authorities detonated an “extremely dangerous” pipe bomb late Saturday after a teen-age boy found the device inside a cart at an Oceanside shopping center, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said.

No one was hurt in the incident, according to the sheriff’s office, which was investigating along with Oceanside police.

There was no word on who placed the bomb or what the motive may have been, or whether anyone intended to detonate it, authorities said. There were no suspects, the sheriff’s office said.

The youth discovered the bomb sometime before 9 p.m. at the shopping center, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said. The device was inside a paper bag that had been placed in a shopping cart, the spokeswoman said.

The teen-ager, who was not named, carried the device back to his home, which is situated in an apartment complex on the 300 block of El Camino Real, authorities said. His mother called police, the spokeswoman said.

Sheriff’s authorities, fearing the device might explode, immediately evacuated some residents. Officials decided to detonate the galvanized steel bomb--which was equipped with a timing device--at a nearby site, the sheriff’s office said.

In response to the incident, sheriff’s officials issued a warning urging area residents to avoid touching suspicious devices. Anyone finding a suspected bomb should evacuate the area immediately and call police, authorities said.