The RUC Chief Constable has blamed dissident republicans for a 250lb car-bomb which caused considerable damage in Stewartstown, Co Tyrone, yesterday.
"Although it is too soon to be definitive, we would assess that that was probably the work of the `Real IRA'. Those who carry out such attacks carry them out on local communities, not on us," Sir Ronnie Flanagan told the BBC's Breakfast With Frost.
Local teenagers alerted the RUC after a masked man was seen abandoning a red Rover car outside the town's police station around 11.30 p.m. on Saturday.
Officers evacuated a number of houses nearby and called in British army technical officers. However, the bomb went off just before 1 a.m., with shrapnel shattering nearby windows and the vehicle's engine being blown 100 yards down the road.
It is understood that no coded warning was received. Several RUC officers sustained cuts and bruises. The blast was heard 15 miles away at Drumcree. While no local people were injured, many in the predominantly nationalist town, which prides itself on good cross-community relations, were still in shock yesterday.
Ms Tracy McAliskey, who lives next door to the police station, said it was a miracle that nobody was killed. "It could have been worse. There is an awful lot of damage done to houses but they can be replaced."
Her sister, Tina, said: "There are people round the town with more damage than we have. They are out of their houses and I feel sorry for them. We are such a close-knit community and everybody is just shocked and devastated. We just can't get over it."
The scene in the town yesterday was one of devastation. A bungalow was virtually destroyed, leaving its elderly occupants and their handicapped son homeless. A petrol station was badly damaged and the church's stained-glass windows were blown in. The RUC station sustained some structural damage but will not have to be pulled down.
The Assistant Chief Constable for Tyrone, Mr Tom Craig, said there were no RUC officers stationed in the town at the time of the attack, but a number were quickly drafted in to help with the evacuation. "Thankfully we have no serious injuries, but the consequences could have been disastrous," he added.
The Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, condemned the attack, which he said was designed to heighten tension in an already tense atmosphere.
The local MP, Sinn Fein's Mr Martin McGuinness, visited the bomb site yesterday afternoon and condemned those responsible as "enemies of the peace process". The timing of the attack was "deliberately provocative", he said.
"It was carried out by people of no credibility who are opposed to this process. They are locked in the past and have nothing to offer the future. It is an ironic fact that the Orange Order, the unionist rejectionists and the group which planted this bomb are working to the same agenda. We must do all we can to ensure that they are not allowed to succeed."
The SDLP MLA for the area, Mr Denis Haughey, called on the local community to "stand together against the wreckers" while his party colleague, the
Minister of Agriculture, Ms Brid Rodgers, said there was "extreme anger" in the nationalist community at the attack.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, described the bomb attack as a sinister act.
"It is an affront to Irish people, people that voted for peace and for partnership and co-operation. Any acts of violence are just totally against the will of the people both North and South," Mr Ahern said on RTE radio.