Dissident New IRA Group Claims Attempted N Ireland Police Bombing

A dissident republican group known as the New Irish Republican Army (IRA) claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing of a police officer’s car in the Northern Ireland city of Derry last week, local media reported on Monday.

BELFAST (Sputnik) — Using a recognized codeword, the New IRA told the Irish News it had planted the booby-trap bomb under a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer's car in Derry, also called Londonderry, on February 22.

According to the reports, the New IRA said it would continue to attack "members of the British armed forces at a time of our choosing."

The group said the device was a new type of bomb; the New IRA previously used a pliable plastic explosive called Semtex. The PSNI described the bomb as an under vehicle improvised explosive device.

The bomb exploded while army specialists were trying to defuse it. No one was injured.

Last month, the New IRA claimed responsibility for a shooting attack on police officers at a petrol station in north Belfast that injured one officer.

The New IRA was established in 2012 as a merger of several republican paramilitary organizations. The group seeks a united Ireland and rejects Northern Ireland’s current political institutions.