Two charged with attempted murder of police officer in Northern Ireland
Men arrested after police thwarted an alleged attack in Garrison
Two men have been charged tonight with attempting to murder a police officer in Northern Ireland following an incident at the weekend.
One of them, a 26-year-old, is also charged with shooting at an undercover security force unit that thwarted the alleged attack in the border village of Garrison, Co Fermanagh on Saturday night.
He and a 32-year-old man face additional charges of possessing a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
Within an hour of the alleged murder bid, a 400lb car bomb was abandoned at the Belfast headquarters of the Policing Board – the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s oversight body. The explosives failed to denote.
Both incidents have been blamed on dissident republicans opposed to the peace process.
The two will appear in court in Dungannon tomorrow morning.
They were two of five men arrested in the wake of the Garrison incident. Three were released without charge last night.
There has been a marked upsurge in republican dissident terror attacks this year. On 7 March, the Real IRA killed sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, at Massereene Army base in Antrim.
Two days later the Continuity IRA shot PSNI Constable Stephen Paul Carroll in Craigavon, Co Armagh.
Since the three murders the International Monitoring Commission (IMC) has said there have been 11 attempts to kill members of the PSNI across Northern Ireland. The IMC – the body set up to monitor the activities of paramilitary groups – has also warned that the three main dissident groups, the Continuity IRA, the Real IRA and Óglaigh na hÉireann, are now working more closely together than in previous years.
