Attacks were attempts to kill

ATTACKS on the PSNI in Craigavon at the weekend were deliberate attempts to kill or injure, a senior police officer said last night.

A hoax device was used to lure officers into an attack when it was left on the Tullygally Road on Saturday afternoon near the Drumbeg and Meadowbrook estates.

Later on Saturday evening there were reports that a mortar device, resembling a fireball, was thrown at Brownlow police station – next door to where 160 teenagers were attending a disco.

Police said the hoax device, which is understood to have been abandoned at around 3pm, was an attempt to lure officers into an area where a gang was waiting to attack them.

A number of police Land Rovers were damaged as a group of around 15 to 20 people threw stones and fireworks at officers who attended the scene at 10.30pm. At one stage officers fired three baton rounds at rioters during the attack.

Commenting on the device at Tullygally Road, Chief Inspector Jason Murphy said it was deliberately placed in an area where his officers would come under serious threat.

He said: "I have no doubt this was a deliberate attempt to kill or seriously injure my officers.

"The device was a hoax to lure police to a further attack. It was a bizarre and mindless thing for someone to do - to place a suspect device in their own area."

Constable Stephen Carroll, the first PSNI officer to be killed by terrorists, was shot almost a year ago - on March 9, 2009 - after attending a call-out in an estate near to the scene of Saturday night's trouble.

A statement released by the police on Saturday night said they received mixed reports about the suspicious device and that officers were moved from the Tullygally Road to Brownlow station after the reports of a mortar bomb being thrown.

DUP MP for Upper Bann David Simpson condemned those responsible for the attacks.

"Over the last week we have seen an escalation of dissident republican violence across Northern Ireland," he said.

"The attack on Brownlow Police Station is another attempt by these individuals to drag us all back to a violent past that everyone wants to leave behind.

"I am determined that those responsible will not succeed in their aim."

SDLP MLA for the area, Dolores Kelly, said those orchestrating the attacks are using vulnerable young people to achieve their goals.

She said: "While it may have been young people throwing the stones, there are more sinister elements behind these attacks.

"There are older people standing in the shadows drawing in these young people, who are often unemployed, and exploiting them."

Upper Bann Sinn Fein MLA John O'Dowd said those behind the attacks have no support in the area, but blamed police tactics for an escalation of violence.

He said: "At some stage in the evening tactics where changed as the PSNI moved in. The riot that resulted and the unacceptable use of plastic bullets could and should have been avoided."

William Frazer, chairman of victims' group FAIR, said he was contacted by a resident concerned that people were able to drive past the device before the road was closed.

"There were car loads of women and children driving up and down that road past it," he said.

"I am not blaming the policemen on the ground for this. It is the complete and utter incompetence of senior officers and the total lack of resources the police have to deal with these situations."

Community worker and Independent councillor for the area Kieran Corr said police did not act quickly enough.

He said: "If the device was reported early in the afternoon why did they not go into those areas in daylight hours to investigate instead of waiting until 10.30pm that night.

"I drove past it myself and saw no sign of any police officers in the area to investigate what could have been a very serious situation."

He said the disco had not been affected by the reported attack on the police station and he felt no one attending the event, or Mass earlier in the evening at the nearby chapel, was placed in any danger.

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