The Real IRA has warned of further attacks on the security forces after the attempted murder of a police officer in Co Tyrone with an under-car bomb last week.
The dissident organisation said the attack showed the seriousness of its intention to kill "members of the crown forces". It claimed its capacity to do so would be demonstrated in further attacks.
The Real IRA leadership told the Sunday Tribune that semtex had been used in the bomb which was planted under the car of Ryan Crozier, 27, a Catholic recruit to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
Crozier sustained serious leg and back injuries in the explosion in the village of Spamount, just outside Castlederg. His life was saved when two local men dragged him from his burning car last Monday.
The under-car booby trap bomb played a pivotal role in the Provisional IRA's campaign, accounting for multiple deaths and injuries. The device hasn't been used by republicans in the North for six years.
The PSNI said security for officers is now under review. In a statement claiming responsibility for the bomb attack, the Real IRA said: "We reserve the right to strike against organs of the British state and its infrastructure in a manner of our choosing, at a time and place of our choosing, in the six counties and elsewhere. As we continue to strengthen our military capacity, this will be demonstrated."
While the Real IRA lacks the ability to mount a sustained campaign, this is its third attempt to kill police in the North in the past six months. An officer narrowly escaped death in a gun attack in Derry in November. Another officer was injured in Dungannon days later.
Crozier, who comes from a well-known Co Tyrone family, is a keen GAA supporter. He has vowed to return to work. He was driving to Enniskillen police station to start a shift when the device exploded.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable, Judith Gillespie, said: "I shudder to think what could have happened had he not been helped to safety because the car is absolutely gutted."
She said police had been expecting dissident republican attacks.
"We have been warning for some time that the capacity for dissident attacks on the police and on business premises exists. We are concerned but we do not want a return to policing from behind barriers. We will not be deterred from providing a proper police service to all the community.
"We always advise our officers to take sensible precautions when off-duty. We will be discussing the implications of this attack at the top level of the PSNI and with the Policing Federation."
The North's Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, who visited Crozier in hospital, denounced republican dissidents. "The elements within our society who perpetrated this act have nothing to offer, they are without mandate or strategy and represent no-one," he said.
