Republican attack reckless

Following reports of a republican terrorist attack in Newtownbutler Co. Fermanagh Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has claimed that those responsible for this cowardly assault are reckless and is an attack on the entire community.

The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA said: "I understand that the police have reports that a device was fired at their officers and has now been abandoned on waste ground. This device is now obviously lying somewhere that a young child or other member of the public could find and the possibility of it exploding and killing or seriously injuring someone. This is reckless in the extreme.

"This is very worrying indeed and I must stress that this type of republican activity or behaviour must not be tolerated in Fermanagh, or anywhere throughout Northern Ireland."

"It is clear that once again PSNI officers have been the target and I believe the security forces need to deal with this threat swiftly and robustly - the chilling reality is that this device could have killed someone within this community."

Tom Elliott said dissident republicans in Fermanagh may be getting help from mainstream republicanism, saying; "You just don't carry these attacks out with a small group. If mainstream republicans are genuine about moving Northern Ireland forward in a progressive manner they need to come off the fence and support the PSNI and all areas of law and order."

"I have made the call in the past few months for limited Army personnel to be introduced to support the police in the area. I again re-iterate this call as a useful tool to help combat this threat

"Obviously the dissidents are being blamed, however I just believe there's a lot more of these people in the area in these operations than was maybe first envisaged by security forces."

Mr Elliott explained that during talks with Senior PSNI there was an obvious concern that police resources were stretched to the limit.