DUBLIN: Police in Northern Ireland yesterday issued a security alert in Derry after receiving a report about a hijacked van, and arrested a fifth man over a car bombing in the city being linked to a dissident republican paramilitary group.
“Security alert currently in Derry/Londonderry in Circular Rd area after report van hijacked around 11:30am by 3 masked men who threw an object in the back before abandoning it,” the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) tweeted.
Police superintendent Gordon McCalmont said: “We anticipate significant disruption to the local community while we work to make the scene safe.”
Police also said they had arrested a 50-year-old man under the Terrorism Act as part of their investigation into the car bomb that detonated on Saturday outside the courthouse in the border city of Derry.
Police have said they believe a paramilitary group calling itself the “New IRA” was behind the blast.– AFP