Updated 20:10

POLICE ARE APPEALING for information after an officers jeep was hit by a bomb last night.

It happened in the Twaddell Avenue area of North Belfast at around 11.20pm.

The device was fired at a police landrover by a male who came from the Brompton Park area.

Superintendent Muir Clark said the drivers side of the vehicle was damaged in the attack.

This was a cold calculated attempt to kill police officers.

“Those involved in planning and carrying out this attack have shown a total disregard for life. This device had the capacity to kill the police officers that were in the vehicle and any member of the public that may have been nearby.”

He described the attack as shameful and added that the local community are also appalled.

The investigation is at an early stage, and while it is not possible to definitively state who was behind this attack, we believe it bears the hallmarks of a dissident republican attack.

CCTV is currently being examined and police are appealing to anyone who may have seen a man come from the Brompton Park area at around 11.15pm.

He’s described as wearing a dark hooded top and grey bottoms and following the attack it’s believed he made off in the direction of Brompton Park.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan, has strongly condemned the attack, saying: “It achieved nothing except endangering the local community and the police officers who protect them as well as disrupting Belfast commuters.

The PSNI are charged with protecting the entire community. Those who persist in attacking PSNI officers are also attacking the wider community and have nothing to offer the people of Belfast, Northern Ireland or this island.

Police are appealing to anyone with information or any person who believes they can assist the police investigation to contact detectives at Seapark on the non-emergency number 101. Alternatively the Crimestoppers charity can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Police say the security operation will remain in place for some time to facilitate the recovery of forensics.

Originally published 16:20.

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