New IRA suspected of involvement in car bomb attack on court house

THE DISSIDENT republican group the New IRA is suspected of being behind a car bomb attack in Londonderry.

The attack came shortly after 8pm on Saturday when a vehicle exploded on Bishop Street.

Police Service of Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton said the New IRA was their main line of inquiry.

Four men have been arrested by police investigating the explosion.

Two men aged 34 and 42 were arrested in Londondery last night. Two men in their 20s were arrested in the early hours yesterday

“Our main line of inquiry is against the New IRA,” Mr 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.”

Mr Hamilton said a pizza delivery driver was hijacked on Saturday evening, and his car packed with explosives before being left outside the court house on Bishop Street in Derry.

“We believe that some time after 6pm last night (Saturday), in the Quarry Street area of Derry, a pizza delivery driver was hijacked,” he said.

“He had his Ford Fusion car taken off him by at least two armed men. Between then and 7.23pm, a bomb was put in that car, driven at least half a mile to outside the court house on Bishop Street and around three minutes later a phone call went in to the Samaritans in West Midlands in England, which was then 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.”

PICTURES: GETTY/PA WIRE ATTACK:Top, Forensic officers inspect the remains of the van used as a car bomb on an attack outside Derry Court House; above; the scene of the explosion on Bishop Street, Londonderry.