Irish Republican News · October 1, 2009

Bomb targets policing meeting

A loyalist faction has been blamed for leaving a device near Ballymoney in County Antrim.

A meeting on policing in the area was cancelled on Tuesday night following a telephoned bomb warning.

A controlled explosion was carried out by British Army bomb experts on a suspicious object behind Mosside Community Centre.

Fourteen homes had to be temporarily evacuated.

Chair of Moyle DPP, Sinn Fein’s Oliver McMullan has blamed “a faction of loyalism” for leaving the device behind.

“It may not have had the support of the full loyalist structure but I am quite convinced it was a faction of loyalism,” he said.

Mr McMullan said he was disappointed the meeting of the District Policing Partnership (DPP) cancelled.

“It has denied the people of Mosside an opportunity for the first time ever to give their views on policing,” he added.

The cancellation comes after a DPP meeting in Derry was disrupted last week for the second time, as hardline republican protestors forced their way into a hotel where the meeting was being held and blew whistles and shouted slogans.

The north Antrim UDA separated themselves from the mainstream UDA/UFF earlier this year and vowed to continue their armed campaign.

Last week, a bomb discovered outside a home in Antrim town was claimed by the ‘Real UFF’.

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