LONDON: Militants are planning to mark the 100th anniversary of Ireland’s Easter Rising against British rule with attacks on police and army targets, the police warned on Friday after a car bomb injured a prison officer.
Stephen Martin from Northern Ireland’s police force said he was “very worried” about the threat in the run-up to the commemoration on March 27 of the revolt that paved the way for Ireland’s independence.
“There are people within dissident republican groupings who want to mark the Easter 2016 100th anniversary in an entirely more sinister way, who want to kill police officers, prison officers or soldiers,” Martin said in a video on Facebook.
A 52-year-old prison officer was injured on Friday shortly after leaving his home on his way to work when an explosive device detonated under the van he was driving in Northern Ireland’s main city Belfast.
Martin said his injuries were “not life-threatening” but added: “This could have been a fatal attack.”
Police are treating the bombing as attempted murder.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster condemned the incident as “disgraceful and despicable”. --AFP