Dissident republicans say Derry bomb attack was to mark 100 years since start of War of Independence
SHOCKING footage of the Derry car bomb blast shows a group of young people walking past the vehicle just minutes before it explodes.
CCTV images show the bomber driving up to the Bishop Street courthouse and parking the car. Moments later he can be seen running down the street, his face hidden by a hood.
Cars and taxis pass the vehicle while a group of seven young people walk past it unaware of what is about to happen.
Just minutes later the massive bomb detonates, sending a huge fireball into the air and hurling debris all over the street.
A warning had been phoned in by the bombers to the Samaritans in England. This was then relayed to local police before being passed on to the PSNI.
Members of the PSNI had just minutes to evacuate the area – including a group of children who were attending a church youth club nearby.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton condemned those behind the attack, calling it “unbelievably reckless”.
“At around 7.55pm on Saturday night, officers on patrol in Bishop Street spotted a
suspicious vehicle and were making checks when, around five minutes later, information was received that a device had been left at the courthouse.
“We moved immediately to begin evacuating people from nearby buildings including hundreds of hotel guests, 150 people from the Masonic Hall and a large number of children from a church youth club. The device detonated at 8.10pm.”
The vehicle used in the bombing had been hijacked by two men from a pizza delivery driver in the Bogside area of the city shortly after 6pm that evening.
Four men, aged from 20 to 42, have been arrested in connection with the investigation.
Mr Hamilton said: “Our main line of inquiry is against the New IRA. The New IRA, like most dissident republican groups in Northern Ireland, is small, largely unrepresentative and just determined to drag people back to where they don’t want to be.
“There were a number of arrests in the early hours of Sunday morning here in the city, so this is primarily focused on local people in this city attacking their own city.”
Two further arrests were made yesterday evening bringing the total number of those arrested to four.
Electrician Francis Gallagher was working in a nearby coffee shop and said the bomb shook the whole building.
“Myself and my partner had just sat down for a break and then there was this absolute almighty bang,” he said.
“The whole building shook. I said straight away to my partner that it must be a bomb, because I’d never heard anything so loud in my life.
“I’m not used to anything like this because I’m from Lancashire originally and I live in Donegal. It was really scary.
“I thought those days were over... that’s why I moved back here.”
Phillip Crossan was celebrating his birthday at a nearby hotel when the bomb exploded. “I remember that sound from many years ago, so I wasn’t scared necessarily. The younger ones were more scared than I was, they wouldn’t have been used to it,” he said.
In a statement, dissident republican group Saoradh said the bomb attack marked 100 years since the first shots were fired in the War of Independence at Soloheadbeg.
‘It was really scary. I thought those days were over’