Fermanagh bomb 'a determined, well planned, murderous attack', says UUP member
Ulster Unionist Party MLA Doug Beattie has said that he is gravely concerned about the possibility of a return to violence after a bomb exploded in Co Fermanagh on Monday morning.
The device exploded close to Wattle Bridge at around 10.35am after bomb disposal experts had defused a larger device in the area.
It was “a determined, well planned, murderous attack by republican terrorists who get up in the morning and their aim is to kill a police officer or a soldier.”
There was no doubt that the target was an army technical officer or a police officer, Mr Beattie told Newstalk’s Pat Kenny show.
The location of the bombing, close to the border, was deliberate because “Brexit is looming,” he added.
They’re creating a fear in people who don’t know what’s happening. They are playing on fears.
Mr Beattie said that the aim of the terrorists was to increase police and army activity on the border to make it appear that the border is now being “policed.”
“They want to create the perception that the military are back on the border again. I am genuinely concerned at where we are at this time.
“The two governments – in the UK and in Ireland, need to take measures to clamp down on republican terrorists who are trying to drag us back to the old days of violence.”
Meanwhile, the bomb led the Police Federation for Northern Ireland to say dissident groups were showing an “increased capability”, which it describing as “extremely worrying”.
