Police in Northern Ireland have confirmed that an explosion at an officer's home in Londonderry was caused by an under-vehicle bomb and say it was designed to kill.

The device detonated outside the house in the Culmore area of the city as Army technical officers moved in to defuse it.

Detective Chief Inspector Michael Harvey said: "These are designed to kill and seriously injure people so I want to be absolutely clear that this device would have had devastating consequences if it had exploded with our colleague and his family in the car.

"The violent dissident republicans who carried out this attack intended to kill him. They didn't care that his children or partner could also have been in the vehicle.

"He is not just a police officer in a uniform. He is also a father, a brother and a devoted family man who puts on his uniform every day to serve the local community that he is part of.


"It was extremely lucky that no one was hurt and it reinforces the fact that this small group of people have no regard for the safety of the local community or indeed the wishes of the vast majority of local people who want to live in a safe and peaceful society."

Image: An officer was shot in north Belfast in January

The attack, just eight days before an election in Northern Ireland, comes one month after another officer was shot and wounded in north Belfast.

The so-called New IRA, a dissident republican group opposed to the peace process, claimed it had carried out the gun attack at a petrol filling station.

The threat posed by renegade republicans in Northern Ireland continues to be deemed "severe" and security forces remain on high alert.

Police are appealing to anyone with information about the bomb in Derry to contact them.