More shootings and bombings took place in Derry/Strabane

A report out has stated that more shootings and bombings happened in Derry and Strabane last year than anywhere else in the North of Ireland.

The PSNI’s security statistics for 202 show that Police Derry City and Strabane district accounted for 41 per cent of all security-related shootings and 60 per cent of all bombing incidents in the 12 month period from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

“Of the 29 shooting incidents in the last 12 months, the highest number occurred in Derry City and Strabane (12).

“Belfast experienced 7 shootings, Causeway Coast and Glens and Ards and North Down each experienced three shootings and four other policing districts each experienced one such incident,” according to a newly-published report for the year.

Shootings refer to ‘shots fired by terrorists, shots fired by the security forces, paramilitary style attacks involving shootings and shots heard (and later confirmed by other sources)’, the report states.

“There were three bombing incidents in Derry City and Strabane during the past 12 months, two of which occurred in November 2022.

“Additionally, Belfast and Mid Ulster each experienced one bombing incident during the past 12 months,” the report adds.

Bombing incidents include all incidents where a bombing device explodes or is defused.

On November 17, 2022, an improvised explosive device caused a blast that caused damage to a police vehicle being used by two officers patrolling in the Mount Carmel area of Strabane.

On November 20, 2022, a suspicious object abandoned in a car outside Waterside police station was confirmed to have been a bomb.

Both incidents were carried out by the New IRA.

One man, Charlie Love of Bridge Street, Strabane has been charged over the Strabane bomb attack.

Investigations established that military grade explosives had been used in the attack on the two officers, which left a substantial crater at the point of detonation.

A command wire leading to what police believe was a firing point close to a tree stump was also found.

A drill and wiring, which detectives believed to be the trigger mechanism, were also discovered.

It is alleged that Mr Love is connected by DNA evidence to the firing mechanism and a metal pole at the scene of the attack.

The security bulletin shows that there was an increase in paramilitary-style assaults in Derry and Strabane last year but there were fewer such attacks here than elsewhere.

Paramilitary style assaults, as the PSNI describe them, are usually “carried out by Loyalist or Republican groups on members of their own community as a so-called punishment” and “will involve major or minor physical injury to the injured party typically involving a group of assailants armed with, for example, iron bars or baseball bats”.

“There were 25 casualties of paramilitary style assaults during the last 12 months compared to 37 during the previous 12 months. Ards and North Down experienced the greatest number of assaults (8) followed by Belfast (7).

“Five policing districts saw a year-on-year decrease in the number of paramilitary style assaults, Mid and East Antrim experiencing the greatest decrease (from 11 to 4).

“Conversely, three policing districts saw a year-on-year increase in the number of paramilitary style assaults, Derry City and Strabane experiencing the greatest increase (from none to 3),” the police report states.

There were also two paramilitary-style shootings – which usually result in the the ‘injured party being shot in the knees, elbows, feet, ankles or thighs’ as the PSNI describe them – in Derry and Strabane.

“There were eight casualties of paramilitary style shootings during the last 12 months, compared to 14 during previous 12 months. Belfast, Derry City and Strabane and Causeway Coast and Glens each experienced two such attacks while Lisburn and Castlereagh and Ards and North Down each experienced one.

“The paramilitary style shooting in December 2022 was the first attack of this nature since June 2022,” says the report.

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