Man arrested over attempted murder of off duty PSNI officer

By David Hunter

A man's been arrested in connection with the attempted murder of a police officer in Derry Londonderry. 

A viable imrpovised explosive was found under the off duty officer's car in the Ardanlee area in February 2017. 

The 47 year old man was arrested in Creggan this morning and has been taken to Belfast for questioning. 

Police believe the New IRA was responsible. 

The man is the fifth person to be arrested to date.

Detective Inspector Peter McKenna said: “If this device had exploded with our colleague and his young family in the car it would have had devastating consequences. 

"We believe the New IRA are responsible for this cowardly attack during which they put the safety of all members of the community at risk as the device was left in a residential area and could have exploded at any time.

“I would like to thank the public for their assistance to date but I believe there are still people in the community who hold vital pieces of information that could assist police and I would appeal to them to make contact with Detectives on 101 ."