Naomi Long to raise PSNI funding with NI secretary

Justice Minister Naomi Long has said she will discuss the need for extra funding for police when she meets Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis on Wednesday.

She said an attempted bomb attack on an officer on Monday reflected the "genuine challenge" the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) was facing.

The PSNI said the bomb was intended to kill the officer and her daughter.

Mrs Long said officers had been "under incredible pressure" recently.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle, she said: "To be faced with this kind of attack, where they are most vulnerable in their own homes, is incredibly distressing for many officers."

• Fireball bomb bid to kill police officer and daughter

"The executive... has set aside additional resources in terms of the PSNI this year so that they will be able to maintain the numbers they currently have and also recruit 100 extra officers.

"That is something that we have prioritised... but there is also additional funding that goes towards the PSNI.

Naomi Long says the attack "reflects a genuine challenge" facing the PSNI

"I will be meeting with the secretary of state later today and will be raising that with him."

The explosive was attached to a container of flammable liquid placed next to the officer's car in Dungiven.

'Think of the consequences'

On Tuesday the PSNI said it was "designed to cause a fireball which would have engulfed the victim's car and anyone in it or close by".

Police believe the dissident republican group the New IRA was responsible.

Speaking to BBC News NI on Wednesday, First Minister Arlene Foster said dissident republicans had been "trying to recruit" in County Londonderry and in her Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency.

"I say to all young people who may get caught up in the midst of this, think what could've happened to that young woman and her very young child and think of consequences of that," she said.

"They used the cover of darkness to leave a device and hoped it would cause the sort of damage none of us can imagine."

Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard said the people responsible for the "reckless attack "had "absolutely nothing to offer society but more suffering".