A POLICE OFFICER in Northern Ireland has been shot this evening, it has been confirmed.
The officer was shot and wounded at a petrol station on the Crumlin Road in north-west Belfast at around 7.30pm.
The Police Federation of Northern Ireland have called the incident a ‘terrorist shooting’.
The road is closed as police conduct an investigation.
Former First Minister of Northern Ireland Arlene Foster said she “utterly condemns the shooting”, saying it was “the work of cowards”.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan also condemned the shooting, saying that there’s ”no excuse for such criminality. I wish the officer a full recovery.”
Ulster Unionist councillor David Arthurs said that tonight’s shooting was the first attack on an on-duty officer in eight years.
Earlier this week, the PSNI confirmed that they were following “an active line of inquiry around the involvement of violent dissident republicans”.
This was in response to four paramilitary-style shootings in west Belfast over the past three weeks.
The PSNI said that there would be increased patrols in the area and had asked members of the community to work with police “to put these people out of business”.
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