(CNN) -- Three people were wounded late Thursday when an explosion occurred outside a police station in Newtownhamilton, Northern Ireland, the Police Services of Northern Ireland said.
Police were en route to the site of an abandoned vehicle in the area -- reported to a Belfast hospital -- when the blast took place at 11:25 p.m. The three wounded people were taken to hospital but did not sustain life-threatening injuries, police said.
Police reported damage to buildings in the surrounding area but said the extent of the damage would be assessed in the daylight. Homes in the immediate vicinity were evacuated.
Newtownhamilton is a small village in County Armagh that saw some violence from the struggle between Irish Catholic republicans and Ulster protestants during the years of conflict known as "The Troubles," including the killing of two British Army soldiers who died when their patrol hit a landmine in 1973.
