Suspect Charged Over Attempted N.Ireland Police Murder

London, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th May, 2021 ) :Police in Northern Ireland on Friday charged a man over the attempted murder of a female police officer in failed bomb attack blamed on dissident pro-Ireland republicans.

A 52-year-old man was charged with five offences including possession of articles for use in terrorism and possession of explosive devices with intent to endanger life.

The man is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court on Friday, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Terrorism Investigation Unit said in a statement.

The charges relate to the discovery of an improvised explosive device by the car of a female part-time officer in the rural town of Dungiven on April 19.

Police said at the time the device was planted at the rear of the officer's car, where her young daughter would have been sitting, and would have caused a "fireball" engulfing the vehicle along with anyone inside it or nearby.

Detectives said the New IRA were strongly suspected of being behind the incident.

The PSNI said the suspect has been linked to the discovery of improvised explosive devices in Londonderry in 2016 and home-made mortar discovered in Strabane in 2019.

Two men who were among a number of other people arrested have since been released, the force added.

The incident came at a time of heightened tensions in Northern Ireland linked to new trading arrangements following the UK's exit from the European Union.

Pro-UK unionists have been angered by the so-called "protocol", which effectively keeps Northern Ireland in the European customs union and single market.

Dozens of police officers were hurt in the fiercest unrest in the years since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that largely ended three decades of violence in the British province.