Car Bomb Policeman 'Seriously Injured'

A policeman has been taken to hospital after a bomb exploded under his car in Co Antrim this morning.

The victim of the early morning car bomb attack was rushed to hospital soon after the blast which exploded under a car, the police have confirmed.

It is understood he sustained serious injuries to his pelvis.

The Chairman of the North's Policing Board has condemned those behind this morning's attack.

Barry Gilligan said: "I understand that the officer has been taken to hospital and our thoughts are first and foremost with him and his family.

"This was an attempt to murder and those behind this attack cannot be allowed to succeed in bringing any further terror to our community.

"I would urge anyone with information on this incident to pass it to the police," he said.

There is an ongoing security alert at the scene of the explosion on Milltown Road in Randalstown.

No one has claimed responsibility for planting the bomb yet, which exploded at 6.30am.

The road has been closed and army technical officers have been called to the scene.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the officer has been seriously injured.

Dissident republicans have planted a number of bombs across Northern Ireland in the last year with a bomb under a policeman's car in east Belfast which left his partner suffering minor injuries in the attack.

A republican dissident splinter group called Oglaigh na hEireann admitted planting that under-car bomb using a recognised codeword.

The group said that it was a mercury tilt-switch-type device designed to cause maximum damage to the passenger side of the vehicle.

A serving police officer who works as a dog handler was the intended target.

Meanwhile, SDLP South Antrim MLA Thomas Burns has commented on this morning's attack: "The scene of this attack is not all that far from Massarene Barracks, (in which two soldiers were gunned down).

"At the time of last year's attacks all the people made their views absolutely clear. Across all parties and shadews of opinion, they condemned them utterly and called on the armed dissident groups to stop their murderous activities. We want no more murders, no more shootings, no more bombs.

"People in Randalstown and everywhere else want policing and want officers to be able to live openly in all communities.

"We are simply not going to allow a handful of criminally-minded people to set back all we have achieved," he said.

See: Belfast Car Bomb Admitted

(BMcC/GK)