Bid to derail peace process slammed

12 April 2012

The Northern Ireland Assembly is expected to condemn the latest attempts to derail the peace process after a car bomb attack and gun battle involving suspected dissident republicans.

The 400lb bomb partially exploded after a vehicle broke through a barrier outside the headquarters of the Northern Ireland Policing Board in Belfast.

Nobody was hurt, but two men were seen escaping from the area at Clarendon Dock on Saturday night.

In a separate incident, five men were arrested after police exchanged fire with suspected dissident republicans close to the border with the Republic in Co Fermanagh. The Police Service of Northern Ireland detained four in the area and gardai the other in Dooard, Co Leitrim.

Chief Constable Matt Baggott said Saturday's attacks were designed to derail political progress.

"We have said from day one that the terrorist situation is severe. We have substantial resources being put into investigating and thwarting these attacks," he said.

"This attack is an attack on the well-being of everybody in Northern Ireland. This is not about an attack on policing or the Policing Board, this is an attack on young people and young people's future."

A car was found burned out nearby in the staunchly republican New Lodge area of the city and police are investigating whether there was any link with the earlier attack.

The chief constable said that in Fermanagh his officers fired two warning shots, which are being investigated by Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson. He said his officers had been fired at once during the exchange. It is understood the attack in Garrison was an attempt to kill a police officer who lived in the village, but it is believed the officer was not at home.

The ages of the detained men are 22, 26, 32 and 41. A suspect arrested by police in the Republic is aged 27.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in