SINN FEIN MP Paul Maskey condemned those responsible for planting a bomb today at the home of the brother of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, branding it an “attack on the whole community.”

The crude explosive device was found outside the West Belfast home of Martin Finucane. Police confirmed that a security operation was under way but said no residents had been evacuated.

Mr Maskey, the MP for West Belfast, said that the reckless attack showed “a callous disregard for the Finucane family and the local community.

“This is an attack on a justice and human rights campaigner and, as such, is an attack on the whole community. Those behind this device have nothing to offer society,” he said.

Mr Finucane is a founder member of the Relatives for Justice campaign group, which said it was “sickened” by the “incomprehensible and outrageous” bomb attack.

“Martin has travelled the world to shine a light on state collusion, in his brother’s case and hundreds of others. Our solidarity is with him this morning,” it said.

Pat Finucane was shot dead in front of his family by loyalist paramilitaries in February 1989. The killing of the Belfast solicitor was one of the most notorious incidents of the so-called Troubles period.

In 2012, then British prime minister David Cameron apologised to the family in a Commons statement, admitting that there had been “shocking levels of state collusion” in the killing.

The Finucane family has long been campaigning for a full public inquiry into the murder.

The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Sinn Fein’s Danny Baker, also condemned the attack.

“I stand with Martin Finucane and his family. An attack on a human-rights campaigner is an attack on us all. I have no words for those who are responsible,” he said.

No-one had claimed responsibility for the attack when the Star went to press.