Working in Partnership with our Communities

The attempted bomb attack on an off duty soldier last week was a reminder, if we needed one, that there remains a small number of people who at the start of a New Year for whatever reason, have signalled their intention to continue bringing murder and violence to the streets of Belfast.

I welcome the cross community public condemnation and I know that the vast majority of people have clearly indicated that they do not want this.

This attack, had it been successful, would quite likely not only have killed the intended target but anyone who was in the area at the time. This was a totally indiscriminate, irresponsible and reckless attack on the community of Ligoniel and the people of that community have every right to be very angry at those who carried it out.

I want to reassure you that we will be doing everything we can to undertake a detailed analysis of the evidence recovered at the scene to try to identify those responsible and remove them from this community. I thank those who have already come forward to support the police investigation, but I have no doubt that there are others who may know something about this incident or other similar incidents.

The only way to ensure that these people do not carry out further attacks is to put together evidence that will permit them to be arrested, charged and brought before a court.

If you know anything whatsoever that may help, you must give us this information. By not doing so we are hampered in our attempts to prevent the next indiscriminate and reckless attack.

We will continue to put in place overt and covert resources to deter and detect those who are determined to carry out attacks of this nature - but with your support we can do much more. Together we can make 2012 a memorable year for all the right reasons.