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Political leaders condemn Northern Ireland car bombing

23 February 2010 20:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Irish and British politicians on Tuesday condemned a car bomb attack outside a Northern Irish courthouse some two weeks after a deal on policing the province secured the future of its fragile power-sharing executive, APA reports citing Reuters.

The bomb, containing what police estimated to be 250 pounds (115 kg) of explosives, caused extensive damage when it exploded outside the court in the border town of Newry Monday.

Nobody was hurt in the bombing, the latest of increasingly frequent attacks in Northern Ireland and the first such device to be successfully detonated there in a decade. "The people who carried out this attack are determined to destroy all that has been achieved in recent months. Their sole aim is to return Northern Ireland to its darkest past," Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson said in a statement.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin said the attack could not be justified and a spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said a tiny minority would not be allowed to hurt the peace process.

Police had evacuated the area following a tip off but Northern Ireland’s police chief Matt Baggott said it was a miracle no one was killed.

Just over two weeks ago, a deal was reached between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the nationalist Sinn Fein to fully move policing powers to Belfast from London. Sinn Fein believes in a united Ireland while the DUP wants Northern Ireland to remain part of Britain.