Dissidents blamed for police car arson
Dissident republican elements have been blamed for setting fire to a policeman’s car in Enniskillen.
The vehicle, understood to be used primarily by the officer’s wife, was torched outside the couple’s home in the predominantly nationalist Cornagrade estate in the town.
The early morning arson incident, which destroyed the car, comes in the same week dissidents opposed to the peace process launched two car bomb attacks in Northern Ireland.
“Fortunately the man his wife and their two children got out of the house when they smelled the smoke from the car outside so luckily no- one was hurt,” said local MLA Tommy Gallagher.
“This is somebody who works for the community and is living in the community and has the support of the community.”
“The individuals who carried this out are despised by members of the community,” he added.
On Monday a bomb in a hijacked taxi exploded outside the MI5 headquarters at Palace Barracks in Holywood, Co Down. No one was seriously injured.
The next day Army bomb disposal officers managed to defuse another car bomb abandoned outside a police station in Newtownhamilton in south Armagh.
It is suspected the upsurge in violence was symbolically timed to coincide with the transfer of policing and justice powers to Stormont on Monday.
