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Belfast bomb: Prison officer injured after explosive 'dislodged by speed bump' Belfast bomb: Prison officer injured after explosive 'dislodged by speed bump'
(35 minutes later)
A suspected car bomb has detonated in Belfast, injuring a prison officer who has been taken to hospital.A suspected car bomb has detonated in Belfast, injuring a prison officer who has been taken to hospital.
"We can confirm that the man injured following the explosion of a device under his van is a serving prison officer," a police spokeswoman said. Police said the condition of the man was not yet known. A spokesperson for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) told The Independent: "We can confirm that the man injured following the explosion of a device under this van this morning in East Belfast is a serving prison officer, He is 52-years-old and is currently being treated at hospital."
They added: "At this time we believe a device has exploded under a vehicle."
The condition of the man and the extent of his injuries are not yet known.
According to Sky News, police are investigating whether the explosive device was dislodged by a speed bump.According to Sky News, police are investigating whether the explosive device was dislodged by a speed bump.
A 1998 peace deal largely ended three decades of violence in Northern Ireland between Protestants who want to remain British and Catholics favouring unification with Ireland, but pockets of division and sporadic violence remain. The signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 brought an end to three decades of conflict between Catholic and Protestant communities, known as The Troubles. Since then, peace has returned to the region, although a small number of dissident Republicans continue to resist the peace process and engage in armed attacks.
The splinter militant groups that carry out the attacks have targeted police and security forces in particular in recent years. Finlay Spratt, head of the Prison Officers Association told Reuters that the victim of today's attack was a prison officer who worked in a training school rather than in a prison,.
The victim of the attack was a 52 year-old prison officer, police said. He worked in a training school rather than in a prison, Finlay Spratt, head of the Prison Officers Association told Reuters. He said: "This is just terrible. What can you say, we have been down this road before. These people have no justification for what they do.".
"This is just terrible. What can you say, we have been down this road before. These people have no justification for what they do," Spratt said. The alleged attack has been condemned by politicians across both communities in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly said: "There can be no place for such attacks in our society. Those behind attacks like this represent no one and have nothing to offer the community." Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness also condemned the attack, saying his "thoughts and prayers" are with the officer.
Northern Ireland's leader Arlene Foster, whose father, a police officer, survived being shot in the head by the Irish Republican Army when she was eight, said on her official Twitter account that the attack was "disgraceful and despicable". DUP politician Robin Newton said that the incident: "must be condemned by all right thinking people. This is a despicable act and it is fortunate that we are not talking about serious injury or even a fatality today."
East Belfast MLA, Chris Lyttle, from the mixed-religion cross-community Alliance Party said that the attack was "a sickening echo of the past."
Northern Ireland's First Minister and DUP leader Arlene Foster, whose father, a police officer, survived being shot in the head by the Irish Republican Army when she was eight, condemned the attack as "disgraceful and despicable".
In 2012, a Northern Irish prison officer was killed in a motorway shooting blamed on militant nationalists - the first murder of a prison officer since 1993.In 2012, a Northern Irish prison officer was killed in a motorway shooting blamed on militant nationalists - the first murder of a prison officer since 1993.
Reuters With additional reporting by Reuters