Real IRA Claims Derry Car Bombing

The dissident group, the Real IRA, has said it carried out this morning's terrorist bombing in Londonderry.

The blast shook Derry which recently won the nomination as the UK City of Culture for 2013.

It went off just after midnight having been left close to the Ulster Bank and a row of shops in front of local businessman and peace facilitator, Garvin O'Doherty's Da Vinci's Hotel on the Culmore Road.

The blast happened shortly after midnight - about an hour after the warning was given and while dozens of homes were evacuated in the alert, no-one was reported as being injured. The bank has been badly damaged.

However, a police officer who was standing close to the security cordon was knocked off his feet by the blast as masonry and glass from smashed windows were strewn across the Culmore Road.

Army bomb experts have examined the wreckage of the Vauxhall Corsa car that contained the bomb and the Culmore Road - one of the busiest roads in Derry - has been badly disrupted this morning.

Dissident Irish republicans are being blamed for the overnight blast, which comes only two months after a 200lb car bomb exploded outside a nearby police station in the city's Strand Road.

The First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness have condemned last night's outrage and described the attack as a mindless attempt to destabilise the lives of people living in the city.

The Ministers said: "It is clear that the people who carried out this attack have no regard for life or property, their sole aim is to disrupt our peaceful society and to create a culture of fear.

"We are as determined as ever to build a stable and peaceful society free from sectarianism and we will not allow the achievements of recent years to be destroyed by a small minority who have nothing to offer but a return to the past."

Regeneration

Just last month, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness launched a draft Regeneration Plan for his home city.

The draft plan - which was commissioned by Stormont Ministers - is aimed to set the vision of transformational change for Londonderry in terms of building a more vibrant economy.

Speaking at the launch he said: "Regeneration is not something we do to our communities but something we do in conjunction with them."

His comments came against a background of other positive news that the city was previously named as the agreed UK City of Culture 2013.

The Stormont Justice Minister David Ford has condemned last night's bomb attack. Just after he praised the highest levels yet of cross-border police co-operation he said: "This was an attack not just on the people of Derry but on the political progress that has been made in Northern Ireland over the years under devolution.

"Those who planted this bomb have been rejected by the people of Ireland, both North and South and they will not be allowed to succeed in their attempts to drag Northern Ireland back to the past.

"This bomb could have killed or injured and thankfully no-one was hurt in the blast. Once again the PSNI showed great courage in moving residents out of their homes and away from danger and anyone with any information about the attack should contact the police."

NIO Secretary of State Owen Paterson condemned last night's bomb attack in Londonderry. "The people behind these attacks on the local community have absolutely no political case to argue.

"They have nothing to say about the future and so cling to a past that everyone else has left behind. The progress that has been made in Northern Ireland over the years has been hard won. They will not destroy that," he insisted.

The Acting Chairman of the NI Policing Board Brian Rea has condemned those responsible for last night's car bomb attack. Brian Rea said: "This attack has been roundly condemned as has the damage caused to local businesses as a result."

He revealed that Board members are actually due to meet with community representatives in Da Vinci's Hotel later this week to discuss the policing of domestic abuse in the area.

Referring to the blast being close to the hotel, he continued: "This is the type of issue that the local community want the police to be dealing with and they have no time for those responsible for this attack which has only served to cause inconvenience and disruption to their lives."

See: Cross-Border Crime Fight Expanded

See: MP Backs Derry Regeneration Bid

(BMcC/GK)