Eleven people were injured when a bomb rocked the centre of Moira, Co Down, last night, including seven RUC officers, one a policewoman, and four civilians. The RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, who visited the scene early this morning, said that the warning was issued by a man with a "southern" accent in calls to the Maze and Maghaberry prisons. He added that a vehicle, possibly the getaway car, was discovered on the southern route of the M1, suggesting that the attack may have come from south of the Border.
While unionist politicians have blamed the IRA, this could also suggest that the attack could have been the work of the Continuity IRA.
The car bomb, estimated at 500 lbs, was planted outside the local RUC station and exploded at around 11:40 p.m., about ten minutes after the warnings were issued. Houses and pubs in the vicinity of the RUC station were evacuated. Local people described the explosion as "huge" and "massive."
The attack came just hours after Sinn Fein was expelled from the talks because of recent IRA killings. Up to early this morning, no organisation had admitted the bombing.
There were reports of the explosion being heard 20 miles away from Moira, which is a picturesque village about 20 miles west of Belfast.
The injured were rushed to Craigavon Area Hospital. None are believed to be critical. Mr Flanagan said the damage caused to the local RUC station was significant. A number of nearby houses were also extensively damaged. "One house was virtually demolished in the explosion," said a police source.
The DUP justice spokesman Mr Ian Paisley junior, who lives nearby, believed that the bomb was initially intended for a specific target in the nearby town of Lisburn, but that because of heavy policing the bombers set off the device instead in Moira.
"I lay the blame completely at the door of the Provisional IRA," he said.
