Londonderry bomb alert: Police investigate Arm na Poblachta claim

Police are investigating a claim that the dissident republican group Arm na Poblachta was responsible for leaving a bomb outside a Londonderry police station.

The device was left in a hijacked car at Waterside PSNI station on 20 November.

The driver had been forced at gunpoint to take the vehicle to the station.

Police previously stated they believed the New IRA could have been behind the incident.

Speaking last Wednesday Supt Clive Beatty said: "Our line of enquiry at the moment is that violent dissident republicans are responsible for this and one potential line of enquiry is that it is the work of the New IRA."

On Monday, police said they were examining a claim that Arm na Poblachta were responsible.

Det Ch Insp Logue said detectives from the Terrorism Investigation Unit were "investigating a claim of responsibility that Arm na Poblachta (ANP) was responsible for a vehicle hijacking and subsequent security alert in the Waterside area of Londonderry".

"We are keeping an open mind and the investigation continues," he added.

Arm na Poblachta (Army of the Republic) is one of the smallest of four dissident republican groups which currently operate in opposition to the 1998 peace agreement.

It emerged in 2017, but has not been as active as the New IRA or the Continuity IRA.

Police had initially described the bomb left outside the police station as "an elaborate hoax" but later confirmed it was a viable explosive device.

The incident sparked a major security alert in Derry during which a number of homes were evacuated and a local school closed.

The device had been placed in the delivery driver's car in the Currynierin area of the city before he was forced to drive the 2.5 miles (4km) to the police station.

Police have again appealed for anyone with information to come forward.