One of Northern Ireland's top civil servants has been forced to abandon his office in the centre of Derry following a threat to his life from the Continuity IRA. The threat was made last week following an unsuccessful bomb attack by the republican terrorist group on a Department of the Environment office block in the centre of Derry on October 30th.
The civil servant, who has now been given security advice, publicly condemned the attack hours after bomb disposal experts defused the Semtex-based blast incendiary bomb.
Commenting on the threat, a spokesman for the Department of the Environment said it could "confirm that a threat has been made against a civil servant. This person has been advised and given appropriate security advice. The Northern Ireland Civil Service condemns this deplorable threat against its employee."
A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance said the threat was deeply regrettable. Mr Keith Cradden called on the terrorist group to withdraw it immediately.
"Once again we have to condemn a threat against civil and public servants simply because they are trying to do their jobs. We think it is deeply regrettable that, for purely political reasons, defenceless people have once again been targeted by any paramilitary group.
The Democratic Unionist Party's security spokesman, Alderman Gregory Campbell, described the threat as a serious development. "This person received the threat from the Continuity IRA within the past 10 days. It is, unfortunately, a natural evolution of this terrorist organisation's activities. This must be condemned by everybody.