Army major 'lucky to be alive' after car bomb attempt

A British Army major who escaped a dissident republican murder bid when a booby trap bomb fell off his car without detonating is lucky to be alive, police said today.

The officer was driving away from his home in a quiet private development in Bangor, Co Down, this morning when he noticed a suspicious object lying on the driveway.

British Army bomb disposal officers carried out a series of controlled explosions outside the home in the seaside town’s Chatsworth area and police later confirmed the item was a viable and potentially deadly device.

PSNI Chief Superintendent Nigel Grimshaw said the damage would have been potentially catastrophic if the bomb had exploded.

“When you place any sort of device in a quiet residential area, where a lot of people would have been going about their daily business, the results could have been catastrophic – it could have killed or caused very serious injury,” he said.

Police have declined to confirm the identity of the individual targeted, but it is understood he is a major who serves at a nearby British Army base.

“The bottom line is this was a member of the community going about their daily business,” said Mr Grimshaw, who added that the attack “bore all the hallmarks of dissident republicans”.

He added: “The individual should consider themselves very lucky.”

Around 30 homes were evacuated while the device was made safe.

The operation was mounted as security forces in Derry continued their investigations into a car bomb attack outside a police station on the city’s Strand Road early yesterday.

Dissident republicans opposed to the peace process were also responsible for that attack.

Peter Weir, a Democratic Unionist Party member of the North's Assembly, who lives in Bangor, said those involved in today’s incident were lawless criminals intent on murder.

He added: “I have no doubt that, by their actions, the criminals are trying to send a message that they can come into a law-abiding and peaceful part of Northern Ireland in order to peddle their own brand of evil.

“They are mistaken.

“I know that the police are working hard to stamp out the threat posed by these sectarian murderers and I urge anyone who has information on their activities to come forward and share it with the police.

“What we are dealing with here is a crazed bunch of fanatics who will stop at nothing in their attempts to drag Northern Ireland back into violence and bloodshed. They must be crushed.”

Fellow Stormont Assembly member Leslie Cree said the authorities could not be complacent just because the device did not explode.

“While I am grateful that the device failed to detonate, it shows that we need to be vigilant and work together to end the terrorist threat,” said the Ulster Unionist.

“There is no doubt that this shocking attack further confirms fears of a surge in dissident activity, and it is clear that any cut to the policing budget is not an option in the current climate.

“We need to deploy additional resources and make ending the dissident campaign a political and policing imperative.”

Alliance North Down Assembly member Stephen Farry described it as a callous attempt to cause death and injury.

“We must not let these people wreck the peace process, the public does not want Northern Ireland to be dragged back into the terrible days of the Troubles,” he said.

Independent Alan McFarland said: “It is obviously disturbing in that the threat from dissidents is moving outside the big cities where dissidents have tended to work.

“It is the first time they have gone into provincial areas like Bangor.”