Police officers in protective clothing on the streets after the attack
BELFAST, Nov 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Northern Ireland’s police said Saturday it had arrested three men on terror charges over a failed bomb attack on two officers, in the first such attempted assault in several years.
The officers were targeted late Thursday in Strabane in the west of the British province, near the border with Ireland, in an attack involving what the police said they believed was a “viable explosive device”.
“Detectives from the Terrorism Investigation Unit investigating the attempted murder of two police officers in Strabane on Thursday evening… have arrested three men and conducted a number of searches in Strabane,” the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said on Twitter.
“Three men, aged 36, 36 and 28, have been arrested under the Terrorism Act.”
The officers, who were conducting routine patrols in a police vehicle when they observed a flash and heard a loud bang, were not injured, Assistant chief constable Bobby Singleton, of the PSNI said on Friday.
But they found evidence of some blast damage to their vehicle and after later returning to the scene discovered the location of the suspected explosion.
Officers discovered what could be a command wire for the improvised device during follow-up searches.
Singleton described the failed attack in a busy residential area as “absolutely reckless”.
He said “a strong line of inquiry” was that dissident republican group the New IRA was behind the attack, citing where it occurred and “previous incidents”.
The failed attack comes amid instability in Northern Ireland, which has not had a functioning devolved government for almost all of this year due to frictions over post-Brexit trade arrangements.
Irish prime minister Micheal Martin said “any such attempt to injure members of the security forces or the PSNI would be absolutely shocking and stands to be condemned”.
UK Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris called it a “highly dangerous” act and said he was grateful no one was harmed.
Meanwhile Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O’Neill, who is set to become first minister if power-sharing can be restored, said the incident was “reprehensible” and urged people to “unite against these reckless actions”.
Peace accords agreed in 1998 largely ended three decades of sectarian violence over British rule in Northern Ireland that has left 3,500 dead. — NNN-AGENCIES
