Bomb contained up to 800lb of explosives

Dissident republicans who planted a car bomb of up to 800lb outside a court in the North are intent on derailing the peace process, political leaders said today.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin desribed the attack as "a reckless, cowardly, criminal act which put at grave risk the lives of the community in Newry"

"This attack cannot be justified or excused," Minister Martin said. "Its only purpose was to inflict suffering. Its perpetrators have no mandate or legitimacy,"

"The clearly expressed will of the people of this island, north and south, is that there should be peace and stability… The two Governments, and the political parties, will not be distracted from this course by a small criminal minority who seek to drag Northern Ireland into the mire of hatred and violence.”

Gordon Brown also strongly condemned the bombers behind the Newry blast.

The British Prime Minister’s spokesman told reporters: “Such action is, we believe, entirely unrepresentative of the views of the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland.

“Northern Ireland’s politicians have been working incredibly hard to deliver a successful conclusion to the peace process and they will not allow a tiny minority to turn the clock back.

“The Prime Minister continues to support a peaceful, prosperous and secure Northern Ireland with power in the hands of the people.”

As police said it was a “miracle” no one was injured in the explosion outside Newry courthouse in Co Down shortly after 10.30pm yesterday, the Stormont Assembly opened its proceedings today with condemnations of the attack.

The entrance of the heavily fortified court complex were badly damaged in the explosion, which occurred within walking distance of restaurants and bars as police were still evacuating the area.

The attack was the first since the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin successfully brokered the Hillsborough political deal to stabilise the power-sharing administration led by the two parties.

Today the deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Danny Kennedy, told the Assembly: “Clearly in the current political climate this attack was designed by republican dissidents to maximise fear and uncertainty and destabilise the authority of our political structures.

“We must not allow that to happen.

“And I trust that the political reaction to this event will be a united response of condemnation and a clear indication that parties elected to this House, and considering these issues, will work together on an all inclusive basis to ensure that political stability is maintained.”

He was joined by representatives of all other parties at the Assembly in condemning the attack.

Mr Kennedy called for an immediate stepping-up of security in border areas such as Newry.

The alarm was raised last night after the car carrying the bomb, estimated by police to be 500lb-800lb, was abandoned after being reversed against the gates of the court.

Two coded bomb warnings were received at a local hospital and business around 30 minutes before the device went off, but residents near the scene claimed members of the public were walking past the area minutes before the explosion.

The gates of the court were blown off and a security hut was damaged, while nearby buildings including a church were hit by the blast.

Debris was strewn around the area, where police forensic teams are still examining the remnants of the car bomb. Traffic chaos this morning caused gridlock in parts of Newry.

Police said they did their best with the resources at their disposal to seal off the area as quickly as possible at the time of the attack, but a member of the public reported having to wave traffic away from the site of the explosion until officers arrived.

The car bombing is the latest in a string of attacks by a minority of violent republican extremists intent on destabilising the peace process.

It came only three days after a failed mortar bomb attack at a police station in the nearby village of Keady, Co Armagh.

Mr Kennedy praised the police and the public for preventing injury in the latest bombing, but he launched a scathing attack on Government and told the Assembly he believed the authorities were in danger of under-estimating the dissident threat.

“If there is to be an appropriate political reaction, there must also, in my view and in the view of my party, be an effective security reponse,” he said.

“I and my party have been concerned for some time that the threats posed by republican dissidents have been viewed with a certain amount of complacency by the Chief Constable and his senior command, and by senior political figures including the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in the mistaken belief that these individuals (dissidents) were unrepresentative and lacked the manpower to cause serious problems.

“Clearly, it is not the case and we now face a deteriorating security situation, particularly in border constituencies, such as my own in Newry and Armagh.

“So, in my view, an immediate security response is required. This must include additional resources in the border area and increased use of intelligence to combat the threat posed by these so-called dissidents.”