Political solutions urged after bomb blast in Northern Ireland

Police officers in Northern Ireland are bracing for a possible flare-up of sectarian violence and attacks aimed at law enforcement officials after a bomb blast on Monday came close to claiming lives.

Stephen Martin, deputy chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said the explosion in the county of Fermanagh was a "reckless and indiscriminate" attempt to kill police officers and he called on politicians to resolve issues that may have led to a recent upsurge in violence.

"We need, as a society led by our politicians, to absolutely set out not just our condemnation to these people but to work collectively together," he said. "Police play their part, but police on their own are not sufficient to say 'you do not represent the society we want to live in'. We want to reclaim the prosperity we felt a few years ago.

… Things are becoming more entrenched and progress that has been made is maybe slipping back a bit."

Sectarian violence had become a way of life in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, 80s and early 1990s but faded away after power-sharing was introduced in 1998, allowing rival political factions to run a devolved government. The formerly militarized border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland was also transformed into a soft border.

Tensions rose again in recent months, following the collapse of the power-sharing arrangement in January 2017 and as a result of the specter of a hard border being reestablished as a result of the UK potentially crashing out of the European Union without a divorce deal in place.

Martin urged politicians to try to resolve the issues.

"We've had two and a half years without a devolved government," he said. "The terrorists have spoken. We shouldn't take our peace for granted."

He said dissident republicans, whose aim is to drive the British out of Northern Ireland and reunite it with the Republic, were likely behind the explosion in the village of Wattle Bridge, which is close to the border with the Irish Republic.

The attack was the fifth this year apparently aimed at taking police officers' lives.

Leo Varadkar, leader of the Republic of Ireland, condemned the attack and the "cowardly actions" of the bombers, saying: "There is never any justification to use violence to achieve political aims."

The local member of Parliament, Sinn Fein politician Michelle Gildernew, said the attack was "totally wrong".

"Those responsible for this incident have nothing to offer society and need to end these actions immediately," she said.

The Financial Times noted that the area around the blast would change significantly if the UK leaves the EU without a deal and tariffs are reimposed on imported goods and services.

The UK is currently slated to leave the bloc on Oct 31 and the prospect of the two sides agreeing a divorce deal looks remote, making the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, and therefore border tariff s, increasingly likely.