{"id":7168,"date":"2019-01-20T11:45:29","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T07:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/?p=7168"},"modified":"2019-01-20T11:45:29","modified_gmt":"2019-01-20T07:45:29","slug":"londonderry-bomb-explodes-in-car-outside-courthouse-n-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/2019\/01\/20\/londonderry-bomb-explodes-in-car-outside-courthouse-n-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"Londonderry: Bomb explodes in car outside courthouse, N. Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

A bomb has exploded inside a car outside the courthouse in Londonderry.<\/p>\n

The explosion occurred in Bishop Street at about 20:15 GMT on Saturday, shortly after police received a warning.<\/p>\n

Officers were on the scene when the blast occurred. No one is believed to have been injured.<\/p>\n

Police had just started evacuating nearby buildings, including a hotel, when the explosion took place. A cordon has been set up at the scene.<\/p>\n

Local politicians have told the BBC that the vehicle was hijacked in Derry some time before the explosion.<\/p>\n

\"Exploded<\/span><\/figure>\n

An eyewitness told the BBC: “The remains of the car could still be seen burning in the middle of the road.<\/p>\n

“A cordon has been set up around the scene and police are evacuating more buildings on Bishop Street.”<\/p>\n

In a statement issued on Facebook, the PSNI said: “As far as we know no one [is] injured.”<\/p>\n

However, they said that there is another car they “are not happy about” and are evacuating the area and advising residents in the area to make preparations to leave.<\/p>\n

Local resident Greg McLaughlin said his windows shook with the force of the blast.<\/p>\n

“It was very, very loud. I knew right away this was a bomb,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We knew it was quite close.<\/p>\n

“You could see the ball of fire on the street. It sounded to me like a very significant blast. I haven’t heard anything like it in Derry for quite a while.”<\/p>\n

\n

At the scene, BBC reporter Dean McLaughlin<\/h2>\n

Businesses and other properties have been evacuated and the cordon on Bishop Street has been extended.<\/p>\n

One business owner said she heard a bang and was lucky to be inside at the time. She said she could have been on the street minutes later.<\/p>\n

Bishop Street is within Derry’s famous city walls.<\/p>\n

The PSNI has asked members of the public to stay away.<\/p>\n

\n

Colin Neill, chief executive of Hospitality Ulster, said the explosion had caused major disruption in the Bishop Street area of the city.<\/p>\n

“This has to be condemned in its strongest terms, taking place on a Saturday evening when many people are out enjoying themselves.<\/p>\n

“The loss of trade for the local hospitality sector and the impact that this will have on tourism and the local economy benefits no one.”<\/p>\n

The Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, said she was concerned at the reports coming from Londonderry and was “being kept informed by PSNI”.<\/p>\n

\"Roads<\/span><\/figure>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in MP Elisha McCallion said the incident had “shocked the local community”.<\/p>\n

“In particular, there are many elderly residents who live in the area who have been alarmed by this incident,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/span><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/span><\/figure>\n

His party leader Arlene Foster tweeted: “This pointless act of terror must be condemned in the strongest terms. Only hurts the people of the city.<\/p>\n

“Perpetrated by people with no regard for life. Grateful to our emergency services for their swift actions which helped ensure there have been no fatalities or injuries.”<\/p>\n

The Irish t\u00e1naiste (deputy prime minister) Simon Coveney condemned the attack.<\/p>\n

“There is no place and no justification possible for such acts of terror, which seek to drag Northern Ireland back to violence and conflict,” he wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bomb has exploded inside a car outside the courthouse in Londonderry. The explosion occurred in Bishop Street at about 20:15 GMT on Saturday, shortly after police received a warning. Officers were on the scene when the blast occurred. No one is believed to have been injured. Police had just started evacuating nearby buildings, including …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7170,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7168\/revisions\/7170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}