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Northern Ireland police blames blast on IRA rebels
Northern Ireland's police chief blamed Irish Republican Army dissidents yesterday for planting a booby-trap bomb that exploded beneath a policeman's car, destroying the vehicle and wounding the officer.
- AP
- Published: 00:41 May 14, 2008
Dublin: Northern Ireland's police chief blamed Irish Republican Army dissidents yesterday for planting a booby-trap bomb that exploded beneath a policeman's car, destroying the vehicle and wounding the officer.
Chief Constable Hugh Orde said the dissidents, who oppose the IRA's 2005 decision to renounce violence and disarm, were "determined to drive Northern Ireland back to the dark ages".
The bomb was attached to the bottom of the car beneath the driver's seat and detonated as the officer was driving to work on Monday night. Police and politicians praised the bravery of a civilian who dragged the officer free from the burning wreckage.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the officer suffered serious leg wounds that required two surgeries. The victim was not identified by name because that would increase the risk of further attacks.
Chief Constable Orde spoke shortly before he met the commander of the Republic of Ireland police force, Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, to discuss their joint efforts to track and suppress the dissidents.
Orde said anti-terrorist officers, who rely on intelligence from surveillance, wiretaps and informer tipoffs, could not hope to identify in advance all dissident plans for attacks - in part because the dissidents are few in number and ill-organised.
"In a way it makes them more dangerous, because they don't even know what they're going to do next," Orde said.
Remote corner
The blast happened near the town of Castlederg, a remote western corner of Northern Ireland where Catholic-Protestant tensions still run high. Politicians from all sides - most notably from the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party - united to denounce the dissidents.
The area's Sinn Fein member of the British Parliament, Pat Doherty, called on Catholic locals to tell police what they know about the dissidents in their midst and to testify against them in court. In past years, Doherty would have described such calls as traitorous to the IRA cause of forcing Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. "This was an outrage that has to be absolutely condemned. There is no support for these people, we have moved on," said Doherty.
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