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Bomb found close to the home of a PSNI officer in Co Derry

THE Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) announced today that an explosive device had been found close to an officer’s home in Co Derry on Monday.

The woman targeted is a member of staff who also serves as a part-time police officer.

The device was found outside her home in a rural area close to Dungiven.

A security operation has been ongoing since Monday on the Ballyquin Road since the discovery of the device.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Mark McEwan said: “I can confirm that the device is viable and investigations are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.

“We are treating this as an attack on a member of staff who also serves her community as a part-time police officer.”

Describing the incident as “reprehensible,” Sinn Fein’s Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill said that those involved in the attack “will not succeed in their regressive and toxic agenda.”

“All politicians must unite against these reckless actions. We must keep building the peace for our children.”

First Minister Arlene Foster was quick to blame dissident republicans for the attempted attack.

She said: “To the republicans who sought to murder this young mother, your campaign is futile, you will never succeed and whilst there may always be different political views in Northern Ireland, we will keep moving forward and we will not be dragged back by bombers or those who would seek to use the gun to get their own political way.”

The incident follows unrest from loyalist groups angered by the post-Brexit trading arrangements that they believe have created new barriers between Northern Ireland and Britain.

Furniture was set ablaze in the middle of the Shankill Road in West Belfast on Monday evening, close to where a bus was set alight earlier this month.

Police attended to monitor crowds gathered across Lanark Way and the Shankill Road on the loyalist side of the nearby peace line.

Officers came under sporadic attack, but calm had been restored by around 9pm.

Meanwhile peaceful loyalist protests took place in other locations, including in Newtownards, Co Down.

The loyalists’ protests had temporarily paused following the death of Prince Philip.

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