Man charged with attempted murder of Northern Ireland police officer

A 44-year-old man has been charged with the attempted murder of the police officer DCI John Caldwell in Northern Ireland, police said.

Two men fired several shots at Caldwell in February last year, leaving the veteran police officer seriously wounded.

The attack, claimed by the dissident republican group the New IRA, occurred as Caldwell loaded footballs into his car with his son at a sports complex in Omagh, 70 miles (115km) west of Belfast.

The shooting was condemned across the political spectrum in Northern Ireland, which has been sensitive to any resurgence in communal violence since the 1998 Good Friday agreement that ended most of the decades of violence that had afflicted the region.

The man was arrested on Thursday and charged on Friday with attempted murder, directing terrorist activities and preparing terrorist acts, police said. He will appear at a magistrates court on Saturday.

A dozen people had previously been arrested and charged in connection with the attempted killing.

“There is absolutely no tolerance for such attacks by the enemies of our peace,” said a joint statement by five Northern Irish political parties.