BELFAST (Sputnik) — Using a recognized codeword, the New IRA claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack at a petrol station, which it said was intended to kill two police officers, the Irish News reported.
The group said the attack had been planned for months and was not connected to the current political trouble that led to the collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The assailants ambushed two Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers at a petrol station on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast on Sunday evening, shooting one officer several times in the arm. The officer remains hospitalized in stable condition.
The PSNI arrested three men in connection with the shooting but have since released two.
The New IRA was established in 2012 as a merger of several paramilitary organizations. The group seeks a united Ireland and rejects Northern Ireland’s current political institutions.
