Dissidents ‘intent on killing’ to mark 1916

A bomb attack on a prison officer in Northern Ireland may be the first of a number of dissident republican murder bids launched to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising, police have warned.

PSNI commanders expressed fears that violent dissidents are intent on killing security force members as a perverse way of commemorating the landmark anniversary.

The 52-year-old prison officer, a married father- of-three, required surgery after an explosive device detonated under the van he was driving to work in Belfast yesterday morning.