Bomb attack on police ‘meant to kill’
A bomb has been thrown at a police car in the Andersonstown Road area of west Belfast during an early morning security alert.
Officers were responding to reports of a suspicious vehicle in the early hours of Tuesday morning when an explosive device was thrown at the PSNI car.
No-one was injured during the incident.
Policing Board chair, Brian Rea has condemned the attack.
“It is extremely fortunate that officers were not injured in this attack but this device had the potential to kill which was the obvious intent.
“These officers were out serving the community and we ask the community to give all the support they can to policing at this time.”
Sinn Féin West Belfast MP Paul Maskey has said that the bomb attack on a PSNI vehicle last night only succeeded in bringing disruption to the local community.
Mr Maskey said;”The people who threw the device are reckless and have no regard for the community as not only are they putting local people in danger but they are jeopardising jobs and creating disruption for local families”.
“The people of West Belfast has twice this year voiced their support for the Sinn Féin peace strategy and rejected those groupings that are looking to take us backwards.
SDLP Upper Falls councillor Tim Attwood said: “This was a very serious and sinister act. It’s extremely lucky that the officers were in the police vehicle and not on the street.
“This was obviously a lure to get police into the area and open to attack. I condemn this without question, these people still don’t get it – nobody wants them.
“I urge anybody with information about this to pass it to the police.”
Army bomb experts carried out a number of controlled explosions in the area but nothing untoward was found.
The security alert is over and the area around the Kennedy centre has re-opened.
