Arrest Follows Border Bomb Explosion - As RUC Victims Remembered

It has emerged that the weekend bomb alert on the border was in fact a terrorist landmine attack - with the news coming at the same time as two RUC terrorist victims from 30 years ago are remembered.

Detectives investigating the weekend attempted murder of the police officers in Co Fermanagh have moved quickly and have now arrested a man - who was held in the Lisnaskea area on Monday.

Although little was known of the incident at first, it is now been revealed that two police officers were actually caught up in the outrage which police now said was "a deliberate attempt to murder the officers".

The officers, travelling in a car crossing a bridge near the village of Rosslea on Saturday morning, were only slightly injured.

Details about the attack was only released on Monday afternoon as US President George Bush arrived in Northern Ireland on a brief visit for talks with First Minister Peter Robinson and the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

The dissident republican group, Continuity IRA, claimed they were responsible.

It's understood the officers escaped with cuts and bruises, but suffered hearing difficulties because of the noise and force of the blast at Rellan Road.

The area had been cordoned off since Saturday while Army bomb disposal officers dealt with the device which consisted of a substantial amount of home made explosives and placed under a bridge with a command wire leading for a firing point some distance away.

Chief Superintendent Michael Skuce said: "This was a determined attempt to kill police officers in Fermanagh. The fact that it failed is something for which we should all give thanks.

"My officers were on duty in Rosslea in the early hours of Saturday morning, providing a service to the local community. They do so without fear or favour to everyone in our community.

"Their dedication to the community stands in sharp contrast to the depraved actions of those individuals who planned and carried out this attack."

Meanwhile, today also marks the 30th anniversary of the murder of two RUC officers by the IRA at a south Armagh beauty spot.

Constables Hugh McConnell, from Bessbrook, and Billy Turbitt, from Richhill, were driving past Sturgan's Brae, near Camlough Lake - also in a border region - 30 years ago when the IRA opened fire on their car.

(BMcC)