Bomb victim just weeks in new area

THE young policeman killed in a booby trap car bomb had only been serving in the area for weeks, shocked colleagues said.

Ronan Kerr, 25, had graduated from training college last December and was living in Omagh, Co Tyrone.

It is understood the former pupil of the Christian Brothers Grammar School in Omagh was targeted outside his home as he left to start a shift at Enniskillen police station, Co Fermanagh.

Kerr had joined the police service in May last year and underwent extensive training.

He was one of a crop of young Catholics attracted by the 50/50 recruitment policy designed to rebalance the mainly Protestant force. That policy only ended recently.

Chief constable Matt Baggott paid tribute to his aspiring colleague. “We have lost one of our brave and courageous police recruits, someone who joined this fine service simply to do good, joined to serve the community impartially and to be someone I describe as a modern-day hero.”

Dissident republicans opposed to the peace process are believed to have carried out the killing.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton whose husband, former President Bill Clinton, played a major role in the peace process, said her government strongly condemned the murder in Omagh.

“The perpetrators of this cowardly act represent the failures of the past and their actions run counter to the achievements, aspirations, and collective will of the people of Northern Ireland,” she said. “We echo the unequivocal condemnations by Northern Ireland’s politicians and call on anyone with information to co-operate fully and expediently with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.”

Dissidents have carried out a string of similar attacks on Catholic PSNI officers in recent years.

PC Stephen Carroll, 48, was gunned down in March 2009, just two days after the Real IRA shot dead two British soldiers at the Massereene Army base in Antrim.