An army officer has avoided serious injury or even death after spotting a booby trap bomb under his car in Northern Ireland.
The soldier discovered the device in Portadown, County Armagh, on Friday.
The Democratic Unionist party MP for Upper Bann, David Simpson, confirmed that the officer had been targeted. He said the soldier phoned the police as soon as he realised the device was a bomb.
In a statement, Simpson said: “I would like to assure you as your MP that I am working with top PSNI officials to ensure the safety of the public and the individual who has been targeted.”
Army bomb disposal experts rushed to the scene at Corbracky Road and carried out a controlled explosion.
A number of houses in the area were evacuated as a result of the bomb alert, while part of Corbracky Road was closed to traffic on Friday afternoon and diversions were in place.
Suspicion will fall on one of the three main dissident republican terror groups.
A local nationalist member of the Northern Ireland assembly described those who placed the bomb as evil. SDLP deputy leader, Dolore Kelly, pointed out that the incident happened near a secondary school and two primary schools.
“This was an evil act against an individual, and those who carried it out have no regard for the safety of the wider public through their wanton recklessness for the lives of many.
“This acts as a timely reminder for people to be vigilant in light of potential attacks and review personal security and make sure that, as neighbours, they look out for one another.”
The new IRA, Continuity IRA and Óglaigh na hÉireann continue with their armed campaigns despite calls for them to end, not only from their political opponents but those who share their view that Sinn Féin’s has sold out its republican principles by sharing power in Northern Ireland.
On Thursday it emerged that the Irish police had foiled an attempted Christmas firebombing campaign by the new IRA across the border in Northern Ireland.
Dozens of suspected dissident republicans have been arrested and a number of set-piece terror attacks thwarted in 2014. MI5 has been involved in the anti-terrorist operations, including allegedly bugging meetings of the Continuity IRA’s “army council”.
