Police criticised over bomb response time

Police faced heavy criticism today for the time taken to respond to a car bomb attack outside one of their stations in the North.

Officers had not arrived in Newtownhamilton, south Armagh, when the suspected dissident republican device exploded at an unoccupied building close to residential homes late last night – 50 minutes after the terrorists responsible telephoned a bomb warning to a hospital.

A man and an elderly woman sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the explosion.

The attack came just hours after security chiefs warned that the terrorist threat level in the North was as high as any time since the Omagh atrocity 12 years ago.

Commanders have not yet disclosed when exactly police did arrive at the scene amid claims from local people that officers were not seen until a considerable period after the blast.

In the absence of police on the ground – despite the same station being targeted 10 days previously – local firefighters had to co-ordinate an evacuation prior to the bomb going off.

Both nationalist and unionist political representatives from the area hit out at the police response. SDLP Assembly member Dominic Bradley said locals in south Armagh felt vulnerable.

“People feel unprotected,” he said.

“Given there was an attack only a week ago you would have thought commanders would have reviewed the situation and placed more police on the ground to protect the area. They obviously haven’t learned those lessons.”

Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy contrasted the response of the police and fire services.

“The police were still not present at that time (when the bomb exploded) and had it not been for the excellent and very prompt work of local firemen, then we could have had a very serious situation,” he said.

“Clearly those (police) response times are not appropriate, they are not in line with responses that should be given, given the overall security situation.”

But Police Service of Northern Ireland Area Commander Sam Cordner defended the police handling.

He said it was impossible for officers to be everywhere all the time and stressed that responses to dissident attacks had to be carefully considered as the terrorists were intent on killing police.

In past incidents police have held back for a time amid fears of secondary booby trap devices or gun attacks.

“Response times in south Armagh are something we keep under constant review,” said Chief Inspector Cordner.

“We are always seeking to respond faster to meet community demands in that area.

“However you will be aware that the threat in this area is severe and any police response needs to be measured and properly thought through. I remind you that the intention of these people is to kill police and therefore any reaction by the police needs to be properly thought through and properly measured.”

He also noted that the bomb warning was made to a third party and therefore had to be then passed to police.

The North's First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and new Stormont Justice Minister David Ford condemned the bombers, who fired shots into the air as they abandoned the car bomb outside the station.

The attack, which damaged a number of homes, a pub and a community centre, happened 10 days after a device inside a vehicle was defused outside the station.

That incident came 24 hours after a Real IRA car bomb exploded outside the regional headquarters of MI5 in Holywood, Co Down, minutes after justice powers were devolved to Stormont from London.

Mr Ford said the latest bombing was not just an attack on the people of Newtownhamilton but on the wider political process.

“With the progress that has been made in Northern Ireland, people will be asking who are dissident republicans fighting now?” he said.

“Are they fighting the notion of self-government on a scale never seen before in Northern Ireland?

“Are they fighting representatives from across this community who form the Northern Ireland Executive or are they fighting the people from all parts of the community who make up the police service?

“Those who planted this bomb want to drag Northern Ireland back to the dark days of murder and mayhem, they want to undermine the political process, they want politics to fail. I am determined that we will all continue to stand together so that they will not succeed.”

Acting policing board chairman Brian Rea also condemned the perpetrators.

In a separate incident last night, a pipe bomb exploded behind a house in the Chestnut Hill area of Brackaville, Coalisland, Co Tyrone, at around 11.30pm.

A man and a woman who were in the house at the time were not injured, but a number of windows were damaged.