Police in Northern Ireland said today they had foiled an attempt by dissident republicans to kill members of the security forces in a booby-trap bomb attack.
Yesterday, police were lured by a telephone warning to a hoax device left at an empty hotel in Newcastle, 25 miles south of Belfast. Officers sealing off the area found another bomb containing 20 kg of homemade explosives hidden nearby.
"This was a deliberate and reckless attempt to kill police officers and anyone else who just happened to be nearby," said police Inspector Paul McClean.
"The bombers had calculated how police would respond and were abusing and exploiting concern for the community in placing the secondary device."
Police said the telephone warning was "from a dissident republican group purporting to be the Real IRA" - the group behind the 1998 Omagh car bomb which killed 29 people.
