Four men were arrested after a car bomb exploded Saturday in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, police said on Sunday, blaming the attack on a dissident Republican group. Two of them are in their twenties, the other two are 34 and 42, the police in Northern Ireland (PSNI) said.
Suspicions turned to the "new IRA". Investigators believe that the "new IRA", a splinter branch of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), is behind this attack. "Our main track is the new IRA," Deputy Chief of Police Mark Hamilton said at a press briefing, describing the group as a "small group," "largely unrepresentative."
An attack "incredibly dangerous". The car exploded Saturday shortly after 8 pm in a court in the city center. "Around 7:55 pm, Bishop Street patrol officers spotted a suspicious vehicle and were checking when, about 5 minutes later, we received information that a gear had been dropped off at the courthouse." explained Mark Hamilton, quoted in a police statement. Police "immediately began evacuating people from nearby buildings", including hundreds of hotel guests and a large number of children from a youth club in a church. The explosion took place at 20:10. "This attack was incredibly dangerous, but fortunately the perpetrators did not kill or injure you," said the deputy chief of police.
"No justification possible". Police believe that the vehicle used was stolen from a delivery driver shortly before the attack. Sunday morning, the area of the incident was still closed and experts in explosives police and army remained on site. The former leader of the province, Arlene Foster, leader of the DUP, small ultra-conservative party in Northern Ireland, denounced "an act of terrorism vain". "There is no justification for such acts of terror, which seek to bring Northern Ireland back into violence and conflict," tweeted Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney. British Northern Ireland Minister Karen Bradley said, "This attempt to disrupt progress in Northern Ireland has been rightly condemned by people of all stripes." "The small number of officials (of this attack) has absolutely nothing to offer in the future of Northern Ireland," she added.
"Bloody Sunday". Located on the border with the Republic of Ireland, Londonderry, also known as Derry, is a city notorious for the "Bloody Sunday" of January 30, 1972. British soldiers then opened fire on participants in a peaceful march, making in total 14 dead. The conflict between nationalist Republicans and Unionist Loyalists had bloodied Northern Ireland for three decades, but in 1998 the Good Friday agreement put an end to the bloodshed, including the elimination of military checkpoints at the border.