Ardoyne Bomb Attack Targets Police

A bomb attack in north Belfast on Tuesday evening has been described as "a blatant attempt to kill or seriously injure police officers".

Chief Inspector Andrew Freeburn said those who planted the bomb "showed callous disregard for the safety of the local community and police officers serving this community. We are very fortunate that no one was killed or seriously injured."

Tensions continue to build in the Ardoyne area as the marching season gets underway, with a controversial Orange parade organised to march through the mainly nationalist area on Friday.

Yesterday evening the Parades Commission ruled that the parade would not be allowed to pass Ardoyne shops on the return route; a decision that has been welcomed by Sinn Féin but criticised by the DUP

Yesterday's attack is being blamed on dissident republicans. It has emerged that police were lured into Ardoyne on Tuesday night after reports of shots being fired in the area.

During the security operation, army experts found what they said was a viable device. A controlled explosion was carried out.

Thirty families had to leave their homes during the alert.

Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly said there was no reason or justification for the attack.

"The people of Ardoyne do not support this," he said.

"Thankfully no one was hurt in the attempted attack. The only people affected were residents who had to leave their homes.

"The people responsible need to come forward and give an explanation for their actions. There is no strategy or logic for what they are doing.

"Sinn Féin have set out a road map to achieve a united Ireland. The groups responsible for these sporadic attacks are without mandate or vision and represent no one. They have yet to produce any rationale why activities such as this continue."

The Ulster Unionist Party’s Policing Board spokesperson Ross Hussey said: "It is most telling that on the very day that a report is published regarding the RUC’s handling of an IRA attempt to lure officers to their deaths in a bomb attack in the Creggan area of Londonderry in 1988 a full twenty five years ago, we have just witnessed an attempt to lure officers into a similar attack in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast.

"It is clear that the tactics practiced by IRA terrorists of 25 years ago are still being deployed by modern day republican terrorists. They need to realise that just as the IRA failed in its campaign to destroy democracy and the right of the people of Northern Ireland to live within the United Kingdom, so the will of the people will also defeat any modern day campaign."

(IT/CD)