A bomb that damaged a bridge in Northern Ireland yesterday was an attack on police, the PSNI said.
No one was injured in the explosion on a country road between Belleek and Cullyhanna near the south Armagh border. The incident was reported shortly after 5.30pm yesterday.
Police Chief Superintendent Alisdair Robinson said the explosion was "a totally reckless act that could easily have led to loss of life if anybody had been driving past at the time.
"However I believe at this stage the real target was my officers. This was an attempt to lure police into the area to injure or kill them," he said.
The bridge attack took place ahead of a day of parades tomorrow by the Orange Order.
Acting Policing Board chairman Brian Rea condemned those behind yesterday’s bombing.
“It is clear from the extent of damage caused to the road that this device had the potential to kill or seriously injure,” he said. “Those responsible had no regard for the safety of the community, but senior police officers believe that the intended target was police officers."
SDLP Assembly member Dominic Bradley also condemned those behind the incident. “It looks as if it was aimed at police travelling through the area,” he said.
“The bridge itself is not a major piece of infrastructure which wouldn’t have been targeted, so they must have been using the bridge to disguise the device for passing police.”
Mr Bradley added: “It was wrong in the past and it’s wrong today. It serves no purpose. The vast majority of people in south Armagh reject this sort of activity.”
The incident came as police in the Republic questioned five men as part of an investigation into dissident Republican militants active in the North.
The main paramilitary organisations on both sides of the Border have surrendered their weapons, but militant splinter groups have stepped up attacks recently. Dissidents have attacked security forces several times, with the Real IRA believed to be leading much of the campaign including car bombings and shooting at police officers.
Agencies