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Suspicious device founder under police officer's car in Belfast Bomb found under police officer's car in Belfast
(about 1 hour later)
Bomb disposal experts are examining a suspect device found under the car of a police officer in Belfast. A bomb has been found underneath a police officer's car in east Belfast, not far from the Northern Ireland parliamentary buildings on the Upper Newtonards Road.
The security alert on the Upper Newtownards Road in the east of the city has seen a number of homes evacuated. Parishioners from the nearby Stormont Presbyterian church had to be evacuated this during a security operation to defuse the bomb.
Army technical officers are working to establish if the device is a viable bomb. Police officers regularly check underneath their cars as they are continued targets of republican dissident terror groups. The anti-ceasefire republicans murdered police constable Ronan Kerr in April 2011 using a similar booby trap bomb device.
SDLP policing board member Conall McDevitt condemned the apparent attempt to target the officer. Local Democratic Unionist councillor Robin Newton described the latest attempted bomb attack as planned murder.
"This is a cynical and deplorable act," he said. The targeting of a police officer in a mainly unionist area of Belfast suggests again that republican dissidents have access to intelligence on the personal details of police officers.
"Those seeking to target police officers are undermining not only the stated will of the people of Ireland who have long since rejected violence, but also the desire for a new beginning for policing in the north, which is shared by the majority of citizens." SDLP policing board member Conall McDevitt said: "This is a cynical and deplorable act. Those seeking to target police officers are undermining not only the stated will of the people of Ireland, who have long since rejected violence, but also the desire for a new beginning for policing in the north, which is shared by the majority of citizens."
The Stormont Presbyterian church has opened to accommodate residents who have had to leave their homes during the alert.