Bomb squad deserve a medal after terrorists target police officer: UUP
THE Army bomb squad in Northern Ireland should be honoured with a medal, a Military Cross recipient has said after dissident republicans’ latest attempt to kill a PSNI officer.
Ulster Unionist Assembly candidate Doug Beattie made the call after Ammunition Technical Officers (ATO) were tasked to deal with an under-car booby-trap bomb at Ardanlee in the Culmore area of Londonderry.
It exploded just as the bomb disposal team prepared to defuse it on Wednesday.
Mr Beattie praised the efforts of the team and called for the ATOs to be awarded the General Service Medal (GSM) for their heroic work. The Upper Bann Assembly candidate said the murder bid on the officer “was a vile and indiscriminate act by those with no regard for the community”.
He added: “In targeting the police officer they also targeted men, women and children who could have been in the vicinity of the detonation and suffered serious injury. The fact they were not was pure luck and good fortune.
“Each incident they are called to attend potentially involves deadly devices that could kill or seriously maim.
“It is a high risk role and a specialised skill that helps keep the people of Northern Ireland safe from these dissident republican psychopaths.
“We owe these men and women a great debt of gratitude and personally I believe they should receive a GSM for their service in Northern Ireland.
“I have therefore asked my colleague Tom Elliott MP to lobby the Secretary of State for Defence Sir Michael Fallon MP to take the necessary steps to instigate such an award.”
PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Michael Harvey the bomb was “designed to kill and seriously injure people”.
“I want to be absolutely clear that this device would have had devastating consequences if it had exploded with our colleague and his family in the car,” he said.
“The violent dissident republicans who carried out this attack intended to kill him. They didn’t care that his children or partner could also have been in the vehicle with him.”
Chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, Mark Lindsay, said PSNI officers have to deal with unique pressures.
“What is different is that unlike anyone else in the community, their lives are under constant threat, as we saw with the despicable attack on the police officer this week,” he said.
“That threat doesn’t go away if an officer takes off their uniform and only for the regular safety training provided and vigilance that has prevented a murder.”
Detectives are appealing for information about attack and would like to hear from anyone who saw any unusual vehicles or people acting suspiciously in the Ardanlee area between 5pm on Tuesday 21 February and 7am on Wednesday 22.