Ford defends PSNI reaction to bombing
The North’s Justice Minister David Ford has defended the PSNI’s response to the bombing of a police station in County Armagh last night.
A telephoned warning was made to a Belfast hospital at about 10.30pm last night, but PSNI officers weren’t at the scene of the explosion in Newtownhamilton until around 11.30pm.
Fire crews were left to organise evacuations in the lead up to the bomb – which injured two people – going off.
The Justice Minister said the PSNI need to be careful in the aftermath of terror attacks.
Mr Ford said: “The priority has to be to safeguard life. The fire service was doing an excellent job in evacuating people in Newtownhamilton, but it’s clear that this was an attempt to drag the police into a potential ambush situation and it’s appropriate that the police commanders on the ground took the decision to go cautiously.”
