THE PSNI has described as “cowardly” an attempt by suspected dissident republicans to kill police officers who were investigating reports of a bomb being placed on the railway line near Newry, Co Down.
The railway line between Killeen and Meigh near Newry was closed on Friday, and as police investigated a suspicious object on the line on Saturday night shots were fired at them. The attack happened at around 9.15pm. No one was injured.
The ambush was one in a series of incidents in Belfast, Derry and Magherafelt over recent days in which dissident republican paramilitaries are believed to have been involved.
The Newry alert disrupted the plans of hundreds of rugby fans who travelled to Dublin for the Ireland versus Scotland match.
Dissident republicans were also blamed for a series of bomb alerts that caused traffic disruption in Belfast and Derry in recent days.
On Saturday a British army bomb disposal team was called out to deal with a viable device found in Magherafelt, Co Derry. People were evacuated from their homes and businesses during the alert, which involved the bomb disposal team carrying out a controlled explosion.
The PSNI district commander in the Newry area, Chief Supt Alisdair Robinson, condemned the attack on his officers on Saturday night. “This attack was a cowardly attempt to kill police officers in the course of their duty as they investigated a suspicious object that may have the potential to kill or injure not only police but members of the local community.
“Police will continue to deliver a service to the community despite the threat from these criminal terrorists, but we must also be mindful of that threat.
“Officers will continue to look after the policing needs of all our people, and will put in place whatever measures are necessary to take a robust stance against those who seem determined to disrupt and attack local communities,” said Chief Supt Robinson.
“The people who carry out these senseless acts show a total disregard for their fellow man, and are not part of the society within which the majority of people of Northern Ireland wish to live.”
He thanked the local community for its “patience and understanding” as police continued to investigate the security alert.
“I ask them for their continued support to enable us to efficiently and effectively alienate those who continue to be involved in terrorism and criminality,” said Chief Supt Robinson.
Local SDLP Assembly member Dominic Bradley in condemning the Newry attack said those responsible had no support for their actions “locally or nationally”.
“Through this attack they put the lives of Irish people at risk. Political violence is wrong; it was wrong when the Provos were engaged it in and it is still wrong.
“The only people who are inconvenienced by their actions are local people and the travelling public.
“If they have a political agenda then they should enter into the democratic process as others have done,” said Mr Bradley.