An Irish republican terrorist group was blamed today for attempting to murder an off-duty police officer by placing a booby-trap bomb device under his car.

The officer, a Catholic in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, was injured by the explosion in the Irish border village of Spamount, Co Tyrone, but his injuries were described as not life-threatening.

The organisation behind the attack is thought to be Oghlaigh na h’Eireann (Army of Ireland), a splinter group of the Provisional IRA which has some support in the immediate area of the attack.

The organisation, which is led by a local former Provisional IRA prisoner, was behind a series of bomb hoaxes in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, last weekend.

Two other dissident groups, the Real IRA and Continuity IRA, also operate in the area. All three are opposed to the power-sharing government led by Sinn Fein, the Provisional IRA’s political wing, and the Democratic Unionist Party.

Security assessments say that while they have the potential to murder or maim they have no popular support and count membership in very low figures.

An eyewitness to the explosion, which occurred at around 9.30pm last night, said he saw a number of local people running to the car and dragging the officer out while it was still on fire.

“They probably saved the officer’s life,” said Alan Lyons. A local Ulster Unionist politician said that the police officer was not from the area but had been in Spamount visiting friends.

Sir Hugh Orde, the PSNI Chief Constable, condemned those responsible, adding that it would not throw either the police or the community off course. The so-called dissident republicans were “in their endgame” and lashing out.

“They have not defeated the police service for the last 38 years, if they seriously think this sort of event will defeat the Police Service of Northern Ireland they are badly mistaken. I think the communities and the police together can solve this crime,” he said.

Martin McGuinness, a self-confessed former Provisional IRA commander condemned the attack. “It was conducted by people who have no mandate,” he said.

“They certainly have no strategy whatsoever and clearly they represent no-one.

“There is a duty, a responsibility on everyone within society and indeed anyone who has information about this particular attack, to give the information to the police as quickly as possible,” he added.

The Mid Ulster MP said there was a possibility republican dissidents could strike again but he insisted they would not undermine the political institutions. “Within recent months they have actually described me as a legitimate target,” he said.

Gerry Kelly, a convicted Provisional IRA bomber who broke out of the Maze prison, said that attacks on police officers were being carried out by tiny dangerous groups.

“Let us be clear they have no support in the community whatsoever,” the North Belfast MLA said.

“They have no support anywhere, in my opinion, in Ireland and they are attempting to bring us all backwards. In this they will fail. Their threats will fail not only against the police but against politicians and others.

“And whatever age they might be - the perpetrators of this - they have the politics of the dinosaur. Everyone else has moved forward and they are attempting to move back.” In November last year the Real IRA shot off-duty police officers in Londonderry and Dungannon, Co Tyrone, injuring both men. The attacks led to the reintroduction of bullet-proof vests for all police.

In February police mounted a massive security operation across Northern Ireland, acting on intelligence that a bomb attack was imminent. In recent weeks it was reported that a bomb attack by dissidents in south Armagh, due to mark the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, was abandoned.

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