A TWO MAN RUC patrol and a woman motorist narrowly escaped death or injury when a mortar attack missed their vehicles by inches on the outskirts of Downpatrick, Co Down, on Saturday night.
The attack was believed to be the latest in a series of IRA attempts to kill police or British army personnel. Three attacks using horizontal mortars have missed their targets in the last 11 days, and at least two other planned attacks were foiled at the stage of preparation.
The attack near Downpatrick used a double mortar tube to fire two Mark 16 mortars from the side of the road as the RUC patrol car was passing. A car driven by Nurse Margaret McCormick was passing in the opposite direction at the same moment.
The missiles apparently passed between the vehicles and exploded against a raised ditch on the other side of the road. The cars were showered with clay and stones which cracked windows, but the occupants escaped injury.
Nurse McCormick was able to drive on to a petrol station nearer the town, from where she was taken to hospital for treatment for shock.
The RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, said the attackers had shown total disregard for the safety of the public. The incident was the most recent in a whole series of real attempts to kill RUC officers, and if these attempts continued then killing would be the inevitable result, he said.
Speaking on BBC's Breakfast with Frost, Mr Flanagan said the attack, and others in recent days, would not "further any ends," and there was "no public support for it whatsoever." Those terrorists who carried out the attack had shown a "total disregard" for the lives of civilians, he added.
In the light of increased terrorist activity in Northern Ireland, Mr Flanagan said he could not rule out the possibility of attacks in Britain and as such was continuing to work in close liaison with the British police. However, he admitted that "at this stage of the campaign it is directed principally against our officers and against the military colleagues who support us."
The SDLP South Down MP, Mr Eddie McGrady, said he was appalled and disgusted by the attack which was obviously intended to kill and do maximum damage to life and limb. He called on the IRA to pull back immediately from its campaign.
Meanwhile, police thwarted another apparent attempt to mount a mortar attack in Derry on Saturday night. After two men were seen acting suspiciously, they abandoned parcels at Crawford Square near the city centre which were found to contain a Mark 16 mortar, primed and ready for use.
While explosives experts dealt with the packages overnight, people were evacuated from nearby houses and flats, and residents of a hostel were accommodated in a church hall.
A 23 year old man is due to appear in court in Belfast this morning on charges of possessing explosives. The charges are understood to relate to the discovery of home made grenades and a mortar in the Old Park area of Belfast on Friday.
In another security operation, police uncovered a high powered sniper rifle and ammunition in a specially constructed hide under a stairwell at flats in Lenadoon, West Belfast.
Police indicated that a search was carried out following a tip off. The weapons had been hidden behind a wall which had then been plastered over and repainted. A senior officer described the find as "significant".