Forensic team comb the wreckage of the car used in the bomb attack outside the courthouse in Derry. Pic by North West Newspix
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton was speaking on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme on Monday morning as forensic teams still comb the scene outside the courthouse for evidence to link suspects to the attack.
He said it was the first attack of this nature in a long time.
“The use of a vehicle born IED or car bomb is not a new tactic, the Troubles as they have existed in Northern Ireland and the republican groupings who still exist would still aspire to use all these types of tactics,” he said.
“Certainly we haven’t seen a device of this nature function for quite a while. For everyone, particularly the community, this is disbturbing.
“This hasn’t happened for a while and it’s a high risk tactic, it puts lots of people at harm and is very worrying for people.”
The bomb exploded after being left in an abandoned car outside Bishop Street Courthouse.
Police attended the scene after receiving a warning through the Samartians and cleared the scene before the explosion. Nobody was injured in the blast.
The PSNI has said that they believe dissident republican group the New IRA is behind the attack.
Four men remain in custody helping police with their enquiries.
Mr Hamilton said police acted quickly to get people off the scene of the bomb attack.
“We can’t rule out the fact that many people could have lost their lives,” the Assistant Chief Constable said.
He said that the “main drumbeat” of the New IRA was “paramilitary style assaults”.
“We have seen other incidents involving the New IRA and people allegedly involved with them right back to the shooting at Massereene (Barracks) in 2009 when some soldiers were killed,” Mr Hamilton said.
“This current attack is probably the most significant attack in recent years, last year saw very few attacks of a national security nature in Northern Ireland.
The hijacked car on fire after bomb on board detonates outside courthouse in Derry
“These people claim to have a political aim, there were some claims on political websites that this explosion was in relation to the 100th anniversary of the civil war in Ireland,” Mr Hamilton said.
“They claim some sort of loose political agenda, but generally this is to try and intimidate people and it is a form of extreme criminality.
“If you look at the images you see a man plant a car bomb and then run away, the converse to that is local police officers recruited from the local community run towards the device and help people to get away from it.”
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