Derry business owners assess bomb damage

Forensic scientists examine the taxi destroyed by the bomb

Some owners of businesses damaged in Tuesday's car bomb in Londonderry have been allowed back into their properties.

An organisation calling itself Oglaigh na hEireann claimed it was behind the attack on Strand Road police station.

Kevin Doherty who owns Strand Bingo said it had been "devastating" for businesses.

"They'll have shut us down for a week by the time we get cleared up," he said.

"We don't know what we are going to face when we go in.

"We're dealing with a lot of electronics in there and with the holes in the roof... water and electric don't go together very well.

"There is a community comes into Strand Bingo. Those people have lost that meeting place."

A police cordon remains on Strand Road to Lawrence Hill, but cordons have been removed from Clarendon Street to the Strand and Asylum Road junction.

Two hundred pounds of homemade explosives were used in the car bomb.

No-one was injured in the attack which happened at 0320 BST, but several businesses were badly damaged.

In a statement, the Oglaigh na hEireann also said it had attempted to bomb the police barracks on the previous day.

It said an attack on Monday had not gone ahead after two taxi drivers "refused to cooperate with instructions".

PSNI divisional commander Steve Martin said it was fortunate no-one was killed because the device went off more than 20 minutes before a warning said it would.

He also revealed that a policeman risked his own life when he walked past the bomb twice to bring to safety staff at a nearby fast food shop.