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Reuters
Army bomb disposal officers prepare to carry out a controlled explosion on a bomb discovered under a police officer's car in Belfast on Sunday.
BELFAST — An attempt by militant nationalists to kill a Northern Irish policeman was foiled when a booby-trap bomb "clearly intended to kill" was found under his car, police said on Sunday.
The attack was the latest by splinter groups of Irish republicans opposed to British rule of the province and a 1998 peace agreement that ended 30 years of sectarian conflict.
It came two months after the first murder of a prison officer in almost 20 years and followed two weeks of rioting by pro-British loyalists protesting against restrictions on the flying of Britain's union flag from Belfast City Hall.
The bomb, which the officials said was "clearly intended to kill the police officer," was discovered under the officer's car near the Northern Irish parliament in east Belfast, according to BBC News. The officer found the device just before he was going out to lunch along with his family, the BBC added.
The officer's home and those of his neighbors were evacuated while army bomb disposal experts defused the device.
"Obviously there are people out there who are still intent on causing murder and mayhem. Attacks on police officers are attacks on the entire community and cannot be allowed to continue," Assistant Chief Constable George Hamilton said in a statement.
'Attempt to kill': Police in Belfast attacked as flag riots rage on
"Our belief is that this attempted murder was carried out by those opposed to peace from within dissident republicanism. They don't care who they attack, they don't care who they kill."
More than 3,600 people were killed in Northern Ireland when Catholic nationalists seeking union with Ireland fought British security forces and mainly Protestant loyalists determined to remain part of the United Kingdom.
Clinton condemns violence, revisits family legacy in trip to Belfast
Militant nationalists have stepped up attacks in recent years. As well as last month's killing of the prison officer, two soldiers and a policeman were shot dead in March 2009 and another policeman was killed by a car bomb in April 2010.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Maybe the IRA is just jealous of all the press the Taliban is getting. This certainly can't be from a lack of pork in their diet.
I was almost killed last St. Patrick's day, but I managed to survive 5 car bombs.
Come on, this is the LAST thing Northern Ireland needs, STOP IT.
The Northern Irish are all losers. They aren't any better than the Taliban, and are certainly as stupid as Al-Quaida.
Five car bombs, db, or five bombed people in cars?
Sorry, just had to ask... :D
Shoot Republicans try to ruin any country they are in ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sorry just fell over the cliff because the Republicans didn't feel like voting
When will the IRA figure out they only hurt their cause by being violent. In principle, I would support their cause for independence, if thats what the majority wanted. But with the use of tactics like this, I cant support anything these people stand for. Majority or not.
Terrorists deserve nothing. And they will get nothing. That you can count on.
I wonder, how do you define terrorism? And, are you aware of "patriot" (aka separatist) colonial tactics against British forces? Many were unseemly, violent, and <gasp> terroristic. The same type of violence was utilized by the original IRA in the Anglo-Irish war of 1919-1921. The fact is that when a small party is engaged in a fight with a much larger larger, more organized force, they often have no choice but to engage in terrorist behavior.
Of course, I do not condone IRA action, because they are in the extreme minority of the Irish Catholic/Nationalist community. According to the most recent census data, the Catholic population continues to gain steadily. Yet, separatism does not. And, the factor no one in the US ever seems to consider, the considerable majority of the population in the Republic of Ireland wants nothing to do with this cluster-f. The North costs considerably more than it contributes. And, something this article conveniently leaves out, the loyalist thugs have been rioting for weeks because the Belfast city council has voted to conform to British norms and only fly the Union Jack on designated days... The whole situation has been terribly bungled by British and Irish authorities for over 100 years.
During the plantation period, much of Catholic/Nationalist population was exported to Canada, Australia, and other colonies. Then there is the starvation forced immigration.
So how does one use a pure population based tool to solve anything?? The BBC has a excellent documentary on the period.
Catholics they are all the same they hide behind the Bible and say it's against Gods will to have an abortion. Then drive down the street and plant a bomb. In our country they start wars and kill thousands of innocent men women and children in other country's.
I wonder if this policeman targeted was a member of the Ulster Scot community or of the ethnic Irish community?
Some who claim to be IRA or UVF probably are not-
It is a shame that many Americans seem to know so little of the history of Ireland.
Weren't some of the first people who advocated Irish emancipation and/or independence members of the Ulster Scot community?
Of Ireland? Hell, David, most Americans don't even know our own history!...
David,
Yes many of the leaders of the leaders of the United Irish Rising in 1798 were Presbyterian (before the identifier of 'Ulster-Scot' was conceived of). In fact, many of the republican ideals of that Rising are rooted in the Scottish Enlightenment. The intellectual founding father of Irish republicanism, Theobald Wolfe Tone, was Presbyterian. A great study of the intellectual and social connections between the leaders of the 1798 Rising and Scotland is 'Ireland and Scotland in the Age of Revolution', by Elaine McFarland. Regarding the incorporation of Presbyterians into the Catholic/Protestant divide, see Kerby Miller's chapter "Forging the Protestant Way of Life: Class Conflict and the origins of Unionist Hegemony in Early Nineteenth-Century Ulster" in his most recent book: 'Ireland and Irish America'.
The IRA resents the fact that it is the organization which brought terrorism to the mainstream back in the 1960's and early 1970's, yet in the modern day has become so overshadowed by terrorist groups in the Middle East and elsewhere.
These "IRA"who killed Ronan Kerr are not the same IRA that fought for the right of Ronan Kerr to join the police force and for Irish Ethnics to be on the police force.
yeah, but doesn't advocate violence even if people are doing wrong in God's eyes.
It just goes to show people will kill no matter what church or organized religion they belong to, period! The hatred is rampant everywhere in the World. Man will just go on killing as he has done for the past 10,000 years. It does not matter the reasons because they will find one (hatred, bigotry, racism, ideology, demented or just because they can. How about living your life and NOT trod upon others? How simple is that?