PSNI officer killed in Omagh car bomb attack
A 25-year-old police officer has been killed by a booby-trap car bomb in Omagh, Co Tyrone, police have confirmed.
It is understood the officer was a new recruit to the Police Service of Northern Ireland and was a Catholic.
The device exploded under the vehicle in Highfield Close, off the Gortin Road, just before 4pm.
President Mary McAleese said she was deeply shocked and saddened by the murder.
“This heinous crime will not succeed in its evil intent of destroying the peaceful and democratic future to which the people of Northern Ireland are so clearly committed,” she added.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny described the bomb attack as a heinous and pointless act of terror.
“Those who carried it out want to drag us back to the misery and pain of the past,” he said.
“They are acting in defiance of the Irish people.
“They must know that they can never succeed in defeating the democratic will of the people.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore condemned the actions of those responsible for the attack.
The Tánaiste said: “Those behind such violence have no mandate and are acting contrary to the democratic will of the people of Ireland, north and south.”
Justice Minister Alan Shatter described the killing as "disgraceful".
"The people of Omagh have already suffered hugely at the hands of cold-blooded killers," he said.
" Today's tragic death is a reminder that there remain criminals in our midst who have no aim but to destroy the lives of those around them.
"However evil their motivation or brutal their tactics they will not succeed in defeating the will of the Irish people"
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said his thoughts were with the family of the police officer at this traumatic time.
“Sinn Féin is determined that those responsible will not set back the progress of the peace and political process.”
Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Shaun Woodward said: ``This evil and cowardly attack will sicken everyone across Northern Ireland.
“These crimes are targeted on those who protect the community.
“We all deeply mourn the brave young man whose life was taken by this savage crime.
“We all have a duty to stop those behind it from succeeding.”
Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister said the attack underscored the depth of the continuing threat from terrorists.
It is believed the young officer was from Omagh and only graduated from police training college three weeks ago.
He was in the car alone when neighbours rushed to the scene seconds after the bomb exploded.
About 2,000 people taking part in the Omagh Half Marathon passed the nearby entrance to the estate just hours before the blast.
Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott said those behind the murder had one aim - to take the North back to the dark days of the past.
“The deliberate targeting of a new recruit to the police by these criminals is utterly reprehensible,” he said.
SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie said the policeman’s killers were enemies of Ireland.
“This has not only stunned the people of Omagh, it has stunned the entire country,” she said.
“This is not what the people want. They cannot be allowed to continue their campaign.”
Meanwhile, party chairman Joe Byrne, who was at the scene within minutes, said the attack had stunned a community which had finally begun to come to terms with its past.
“Those responsible have no support in the town of Omagh. Nobody wants them,” he warned.
The blast will send shivers through the people of Omagh, where 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, were killed when a Real IRA car bomb exploded in the town in 1998.
The bombing is believed to be the work of dissident republicans opposed to the peace process.
They have carried out a string of similar attacks on Catholic police officers.
PSNI officer Stephen Carroll, 48, was gunned down in March 2009, just two days after the Real IRA shot two British soldiers dead at the Massereene Army base in Antrim.
And Constable Peadar Heffron was seriously injured when a device exploded under the driver’s seat of his car in west Belfast in January 2010.
The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, said the deliberate taking of innocent human life is always wrong.
He said: “I implore the perpetrators of this shameful killing to realise the futility of their actions and to call off this senseless campaign.”
Secretary of State Owen Paterson described the killing as a cruel and evil act.
“The people in all parts of Ireland and beyond want peace and those who carried out this atrocity are in the grip of an obscene delusion if they think that by murder they can defy their will,” he said.
