New IRA claims responsibility for attack on police in Northern Ireland

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) – The New Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a police patrol in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, local media reported on Friday.

The New IRA, a splinter dissident group, said in a statement using a recognized codeword that it deployed the improvised explosive device in Strabane last Thursday, The Irish News reported.

On Nov. 17, two police officers escaped injury when a bomb detonated at the side of their vehicle in Strabane.

On Friday, Inspector Andrew Hamlin from the Police Service of Northern Ireland terrorism investigation unit said probes into the "attempted murder" of the officers were continuing, according to the BBC.