DISSIDENT republican group the New IRA is suspected of being behind Saturday’s car bomb in Northern Ireland.
The attack came shortly after 8pm when a vehicle exploded in Derry. Police and army bomb experts remain at the scene. Two men in their 20s were arrested in the city in the early hours of Sunday by detectives investigating the explosion.
“Our main line of inquiry is against the New IRA,” Police Service of Northern Ireland assistant chief constable, Mark Hamilton, said. “The New IRA, like most dissident republican groups in Northern Ireland, is small, largely unrepresentative, and determined to drag people back to somewhere they don’t want to be.”
Hamilton said a pizza delivery driver was hijacked by at least two armed men on Saturday evening before his car was packed with explosives and left outside the court house on Bishop Street.
He added: “Around three minutes later. a phone call went in to the Samaritans in West Midlands in England. It was passed to West Midlands Police who then contacted us. In the intervening minutes we had already found the car and started to evacuate the area.
“At around 8.09pm, the bomb detonated. Fortunately it didn’t kill anybody and fortunately it didn’t cause widespread damage, but clearly it was a very significant attempt to kill people in the local community. The bomb detonated just as we were leaving the area and it is only by good grace that local people were not killed.”
Those evacuated from nearby buildings included hundreds of hotel guests, 150 people from the Masonic Hall and a large number of children from a church youth club.
No-one was injured in the attack, which has been condemned by politicians across Northern Ireland’s divide. Hamilton condemned the attack as “unbelievably reckless”.
“Thankfully the attackers failed to kill or injure any members the local community out socialising and enjoying the best of what the city has to offer,” he said. “The people responsible for this attack have shown no regard for the community or local businesses.
They care little about the damage to the area and the disruption they have caused.”
Secretary of State Karen Bradley said: “The small number of people responsible have absolutely nothing to offer Northern Ireland’s future and will not prevail.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here