DUBLIN — Police in Northern Ireland arrested two men Sunday in connection with a car bombing outside a courthouse in central Londonderry hours earlier that drew condemnation from across the political spectrum.
The bomb, which had been planted in a hijacked delivery van, caused no casualties or major damage. But after receiving a warning, police had little time to evacuate children from a youth club nearby and hundreds of people from a luxury hotel and a masonic hall before the device exploded around 8:10 p.m.
The explosion followed a pattern of attacks in the city attributed to republican groups opposed to the peace agreement that ended the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland 20 years ago.
The delivery van used in the attack had been hijacked shortly before in Brandywell, a nearby nationalist area of the city. The men arrested are in their 20s, but police did not provide further details about their identities and a possible motive.
Police later posted CCTV footage of the bomb blast on Twitter.
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Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton called the car bombing “unbelievably reckless.” He said officers were inspecting a suspicious vehicle outside the courthouse on Bishop Street at 7:55 p.m. Saturday when a 15-minute warning was received by phone.
“Thankfully, the attackers failed to kill or injure any members the local community out socializing and enjoying the best of what the city has to offer,” Hamilton said. “The people responsible for this attack have shown no regard for the community or local businesses. They care little about the damage to the area and the disruption they have caused.”
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Politicians from both sides of the Irish border condemned the attack.
Arlene Foster, a former first minister of Northern Ireland and the current leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, said on Twitter that the attack “only hurts the people of the city” and had been “perpetrated by people with no regard for life.”
Local representatives of Sinn Fein, the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland and formerly the political wing of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, also condemned the bombing.
“Derry is a city moving forward, and no one wants this type of incident,” said Elisha McCallion, a Sinn Fein member of Parliament from the area.
New York Times