Policeman is rescued from inferno after car bomb blast
A police forensic expert surveys the remains of a burnt out car after a bomb attack on a Catholic PSNI officer near Castlederg, Co Tyrone
Wednesday May 14 2008
THE police officer who was seriously injured in an undercar booby trap bomb explosion on Monday night was pulled away seconds before the petrol tank exploded.
A booby-trap device exploded under the policeman's car as he drove through the village of Sparmount, near Castlederg, Co Tyrone, on his way to start his night duty.
Members of the public who dragged the injured officer from his burning car were hailed for their actions and Chief Constable Hugh Orde said he could not thank them enough.
The victim was the third PSNI officer, all of them Catholics, to be wounded in dissident republican attacks in the past six months.
One of the first on the scene was Thomas Sproule from Castlederg, who was driving behind the police officer's vehicle.
"At first, I thought it was a road traffic accident but I quickly realised it was a bomb blast. The driver's seat was blown out of the car.
"The injured man . . . was on the road a couple of yards behind the boot of his car.
"Another civilian arrived. I could smell petrol and saw it dripping from the back of the blown up car, so we decided to move the police officer away to safety.
"We lifted him behind a fence about 30 yards away from his car and then bang, the petrol ignited and his car was completely gutted in the fire.
Pain
"He was conscious all the time and in constant pain. He had a wound about the size of a tennis ball in his thigh -- right down to the bone. He was worried that his leg had been blown off but me and this other man kept telling him he was okay."
The policeman suffered serious leg injuries and underwent emergency surgery, but his condition was said not to be life-threatening last night.
Dissident republicans have been blamed for the bombing, and were responsible for gun attacks against two PSNI officers in Co Tyrone last November and a pipe bomb attack on a police station. Hugh Orde said the threat from dissidents remained high because they were in their "end game".
Northern Ireland's First Minister, Ian Paisley, and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness condemned the bombing. Mr Paisley said: "This is an attack on democracy and has no place in our society; there can be no turning back to the dark days of the past.
"The perpetrators who have committed this act must be brought to justice. My prayers and thoughts are with the policeman and his family at this very difficult time."
Mr McGuinness said: "The elements within our society who perpetrated this act have nothing to offer, they are without mandate or strategy and represent no one."
- George Jackson and Ian Graham
