The Five Demands

Esplosa autobomba nei pressi della stazione di polizia di Newtownhamilton

(aggiornamento delle ore 22.15 del 23 Aprile)

Alle ore 23,25 circa di giovedì 22 aprile, un’autobomba è esplosa all’esterno della stazione del Police Service of Northern Ireland, a Newtownhamilton (South Armagh).
Danneggiati l’edificio ed alcune abitazioni circostanti.
Chris Page, reporter della BBC ieri in città, ha parlato di danni ingenti a case, pubs, negozi e ad un centro comunitario. L’entità dei danni subiti dalla caserma non è ancora stata stabilita.
L’attentato era stato preannunciato da una telefonata giunta al Belfast Hospital alle 22.30 circa, con la quale si informava la polizia di un veicolo parcheggiato davanti alla stazione di polizia.
“La polizia era in rotta per la caserma al momento dell’esplosione”, ha dichiarato un portavoce della PSNI.
Secondo alcuni testimoni, l’esplosione è stata udita fino a 5 km di distanza.
Non si hanno attualmente notizie ne sul tipo, ne sul quantitativo di esplosivo utilizzato.
Indiscrezioni parlano di colpi di arma da fuoco sparati contro la caserma, poco prima dell’esplosione.
La PSNI ha confermato il ferimento di 2 persone, che non si trovano comunque in pericolo di vita. Danny Kennedy, vice leader UUP, aveva informato ieri notte U TV, del ricovero di una donna anziana, ma le sue condizioni non sono gravi.
L’auto utilizzata, completamente disintegrata dall’esplosione, è una Toyota Corolla bianca.
Critiche della popolazione locale contro la PSNI, che avrebbe ritardato l’intervento. E’ opinione comune che solo grazie alle operazioni di salvataggio effettuate dal corpo dei Vigili del Fuoco, il numero di feriti è stato limitato.
Il presbiteriano Rev Kerr Graham ha espresso timore per l’inadeguatezza dell’intervento delle forze di polizia:  “Il fatto che i dissidenti possano tornare in questo paese in poco più di una settimana per piantare una seconda bomba dice davvero tutto”.
“La domanda che avrei per il comandante della polizia è ‘dov’è il confine?’ perché in questa zona circolano voci che la polizia non tonerà indietro a Markethill”, ha detto.
“C’è la paura che queste persone siano in grado di entrare e uscire piazzando gli ordigni. Il fatto che i vigili del fuoco la notte scorsa abbiano dovuto evacuare la zona, è terribile”.

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Sam Cordner, comandante ispettore della PSNI, ha dichiarato che gli agenti sono stati costretti ad agire con cautela: “Questo è stato un attacco progettato per uccidere agenti di polizia e la nostra risposta deve essere ponderata e misurata”.
“Queste sono persone che hanno preso la brutta piega di voler uccidere i poliziotti di questa area”. Cordner non si è sottratto al tributo di dovuti ringraziamenti ai vigili del fuoco.
Tutto il centro cittadino è stato cordonato, sono state evacuate alcune abitazioni e i pompieri sono attualmente sul posto. Gli sfollati hanno trovato sistemazione nei locali della Newtownhamilton High School.
Unanime la condanna dai differenti versanti politici, che hanno definito l’attentato non solo un attacco alla comunità di Newtownhamilton, ma piuttosto al processo di pace nella sua totalità.

Si è avuta, nel frattempo, notizia di una pipe bomb esplosa nelle vicinanze di una casa in Chestnut Hill, nell’area di Brackaville a Coalisland (South Tyrone). Nessun ferito, soltanto danni alle finestre.

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Bomb explodes at police station (BBC News Northern Ireland)
Two people have been injured in a car bomb explosion outside a police station in Newtownhamilton, County Armagh.
The explosion happened at about 2325 BST. Police were told in a call to a Belfast hospital about an hour earlier that a vehicle had been abandoned.
Officers were en route to the station, which is staffed on a part-time basis, when the explosion happened.
The two people’s injuries are not life-threatening. The bombers had fired shots in the air before driving off.
The two people who were treated in hospital – a woman in her 80s who was blown off her feet by the blast and a man who sustained a minor shrapnel injury – are said to have been left “extremely shaken”.
“ These are people who are hell-bent on killing police officers in this area ”
Chief Inspector Sam Cordner
Local people criticised those responsible for leaving the device and the police response which meant that homes were evacuated by the fire service.
BBC reporter Chris Page, who is in the town, described debris littering the main street with damage caused to a pub, shops, houses and a community centre.
He said the extent of the damage to the police station was not yet clear.
He added that local people believe the quick action of firefighters, who moved people from their homes, had prevented further injuries.
The car in which the bomb was placed has completely disintegrated.
PSNI area commander Chief Inspector Sam Cordner, said officers responding to the bomb warning had to do so with caution.
“This was an attack designed to murder police officers and our response needs to be thought through and measured,” he said.
“These are people who are hell-bent on killing police officers in this area.”
He praised the work of firefighters who moved people from their homes.
“Due to the swift actions of fire service personnel who were on duty in Newtownhamilton at the time loss of life was prevented,” he said.
The bomb is believed to have been in a white Toyota Corolla and detectives have appealed for anyone who saw it being abandoned at the station, or beforehand, to contact them.
‘High threat’
The attack came as security sources told the BBC the threat posed by dissident republicans in Northern Ireland was higher than at any time since the Omagh bomb almost 12 years ago.
The explosion was reportedly heard up to 10 miles from the scene.
The town centre has been cordoned off and Newtownhamilton High School has been opened for residents who have had to leave their homes.
Northern Ireland’s first and deputy first ministers have issued a statement condemning the attack.
Peter Robinson said it was “cowardly and evil” while Martin McGuinness said those responsible had nothing to offer “but hardship, division and pain”.
Justice Minister David Ford said the bomb was “not just an attack on the people of Newtownhamilton, but on the wider political process and it will be condemned across the community”.
“Those who planted this bomb want to drag Northern Ireland back to the dark days of murder and mayhem, they want to undermine the political process, they want politics to fail,” he said.
Ita Gibney, who runs the local community centre, said it was very upsetting for people in the town.
“It’s going to be a couple of days before we’re going to get into the community centre to see what’s happened in it, to see what sort of damage has occurred there,” she said.
“We just want this place to run as normal.”
Last week, the Army defused a car bomb outside the town’s police station, one of a number of attacks on police and security bases in Northern Ireland, including an explosion at Palace Barracks in Holywood.
Meanwhile, a pipe bomb has exploded behind a house in Chestnut Hill in the Brackaville area of Coalisland, County Tyrone at about 2330 BST on Thursday night.
A man and a woman, who were in the house at the time, were uninjured but a number of windows were damaged.