THE REAL IRA has claimed its members detonated a car bomb with more than 100kg of explosives near a Derry hotel and a branch of the Ulster Bank in the early hours of yesterday.
Two police officers on duty at the scene in Culmore Road were blown off their feet and suffered neck and ear injuries but remained on duty as the PSNI investigation got under way and the area was made safe.
No others were hurt in the blast which severely damaged the bank offices and forced the evacuation of Da Vinci’s hotel and dozens of homes in the vicinity. Forensics specialists began a finger-tip search of the area yesterday as the PSNI confirmed it was following a number of lines of inquiry.
They believe it was possible that neither the bank nor the hotel may have been the intended targets for the second significant dissident republican bombing in two months.
Last August another group styling itself Óglaigh na hÉireann, exploded a device outside Strand Road PSNI station.
Sources suggested yesterday that a second attack had been expected. Detectives are investigating the possibility that, because of a police presence, the device had been abandoned by the bombers who were transporting it to another destination.
Chief Supt Stephen Martin said the bombers had no public support, a claim endorsed by a range of political representatives who rushed to condemn the attack.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said the bombers were “conflict junkies”, while SDLP MP Mark Durkan said the dissidents were “stuck in the tired old Provo-style ways” who could demonstrate nothing other than a limited capacity for sporadic attacks.Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said the bombing was “utterly wrong and entirely futile”.
However, DUP MP Gregory Campbell urged the nationalist community to step forward with evidence to secure convictions. “Let’s get beyond condemnation and get these people behind bars,” he said. The owner of the damaged Da Vinci’s hotel called for dialogue with those behind dissident violence. Businessman Garvan O’Doherty said: “There needs to be dialogue. There is dialogue. There is dialogue going on to try and sort this issue out, to try and understand where they [dissidents] are coming from.”
He added: “A number of us are involved in various strands to try and ensure we get the message across to try and understand what they are on about, because they are on the wrong track. This work will continue.”
Both British and Irish governments have denied negotiations with dissident groupings which have stepped up the rate of attacks since the murders last year of two British soldiers and a PSNI officer.
However, The Irish Timeshas been told contacts are being maintained at official levels with individuals with links to dissident groupings under the cover of their more visible association with community or other organisations.
The bombing sparked angry exchanges in the Assembly yesterday with Sinn Féin’s Martina Anderson claiming some politicians were assisting dissident bombers by comparing their actions to the Provisional IRA’s campaign. Referring to unionist condemnation she said: “Republicans have only ever involved themselves in armed action when there was no other means to pursue their political objectives.” However, the peace process and the Belfast Agreement established a viable alternative to violence.
This provoked anger on the unionist benches with the UUP member for East Derry David McClarty accusing her of a “jaundiced and misplaced” take on the Troubles. “There is no excuse for violence in this province, there never has been any excuse and there never will be any excuse for violence,” he said.