Woman (62) held over attack on PSNI officers

A 62-year-old woman has become the third suspect arrested by detectives investigating the attempted murder of two police officers in Northern Ireland.

The officers escaped injury in the early hours of last Tuesday morning when two pipe bombs, thrown from an alleyway as they got out of their patrol car on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, exploded yards from them.

The woman was detained in north Belfast this morning.

While the incident happened in a predominantly unionist area, the attack has been blamed on dissident republicans opposed to the peace process.

Yesterday a man (25) was arrested in Shrewsbury in England and taken to Northern Ireland for questioning.

The man was detained in the Meole Brace area of Shrewsbury in an operation involving the PSNI, West Mercia Police and the West Midland Counter Terrorism Unit.

A woman (27) arrested in north Belfast last Wednesday in connection with the attempted murders also remained in custody today after a judge granted police more time to question her.