London - A booby-trap attack on the car of a police officer in Northern Ireland was roundly condemned by the police, the political parties and the churches in the province Tuesday. The device exploded under the policeman's car near Castlederg in County Tyrone Monday evening as he drove to night duty in the town of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, leaving him with serious leg injuries.
Members of the public who dragged the injured officer from his burning car were hailed for their actions Tuesday by police chief Hugh Orde, who branded the attackers as cowards who were out of touch with the reality now prevailing in Northern Ireland.
The finger of blame was pointed at dissident pro-Irish republicans opposed to the peace process.
"They are out of date, out of time and they are lashing out at an easy target," said Orde, vowing to "put these people out of business once and for all."
The attack was also condemned by Ian Paisley, the province's first minister or head of regional government, and by his deputy, Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein.
"This is an attack on democracy and has no place in our society; there can be no turning back to the dark days of the past," said Paisley, the Protestant leader.
McGuinness, whose Sinn Fein Party formed a power-sharing government with Paisley a year ago, said, "The elements within our society who perpetrated this act have nothing to offer, they are without mandate or strategy and represent no-one."
