Garda’s car petrol bombed in broad daylight

An investigation is under way into the petrol bombing of a garda’s car in Wicklow.

The officer was playing a football match last Monday in Ashford, when a vehicle in the car park was seen ablaze.

The players and onlookers ran to the scene and managed to put the fire out.

Gardaí believe the officer’s car was targeted but say it is not yet clear who might be behind it. Sources said it could be someone local bearing a grievance with the garda or it could be a criminal gang.

“Gardaí will look at all his prosecutions and cases and any personal confrontations to see what comes up,” said a source.

Investigators will ask the garda if he had any run-ins with individuals in the course of his work.

There were reports yesterday that a major drug trafficker in the region was behind the torching.

It was claimed this man ordered the attack because he had been coming under pressure in the last few months from Garda searches.

Gardaí believe the attacker poured or sprayed petrol or brake fluid onto the bonnet of the car and lit it.

The incident happened in daylight hours and gardaí are hopeful someone may have seen the attacker coming or going.

Gardaí are conducting house to house inquiries and examining if there is any CCTV footage in the area.

Garda sources are examining the circumstances of the attack — in daylight, in a public area, involving inflammable liquid as opposed to a pipe bomb — to see if it might point to an amateurish attack by an individual with a grievance against the garda or the work of an organised criminal gang.

But nothing is being ruled in or out of the investigation, which may take some time.

Senior officers have given the garda some personal security advice as well as professional support.

Garda headquarters in Dublin is also treating the matter very seriously and the acting commissioner, Nóirín O’Sullivan, is understood to be concerned at the attack.