People in the community still hold vital clues about a dissident republican bomb attack on an off-duty police officer exactly one year ago, police have said.
The under-car booby trap device was discovered in the driveway of the policeman’s home at Ardanlee in the Culmore area of Londonderry on February 22, 2017.
It is believed to have fallen from his vehicle when he drove off and detonated as Army disposal experts were approaching.
No one was injured.
Detective Inspector Peter McKenna, from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) Serious Crime Branch, said: “If this device had exploded with our colleague and his young family in the car, it would have had devastating consequences.”
The New IRA has been blamed for the attack which police have linked with another attack in the village of Ballyarnett in October 2014, when police were lured into an area by dissidents intent on murder.
DI McKenna said: “We believe the New IRA is responsible for both attacks and that similar types of pressure plate devices were used on both occasions.”
So far, four people have been arrested and four properties searched – but no charges have been brought in connection with the attack.
Police believe the bomb was planted under the officer’s car while he was home with his family at night.
DI McKenna said: “There are still people in the community who hold vital pieces of information that could assist police. I would urge those people to think about the information they hold, and to do the right thing and phone the police.
“I urge them to think ‘what if this was your loved one?’
“I want to hear from anyone who saw people or vehicles moving in and around the area of Ardanlee between 5pm on February 21, 2017 and 7am on February 22, 2017.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the PSNI at Maydown.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here