Car bomb targets N. Ireland courthouse

A dissident wing of the Irish Republican Army has claimed responsibility for a car bombing in the Northern Ireland border town of Newry. It was the separatists' first car bomb attack in nearly a decade.

Nobody was injured in Monday night's blast, which occurred when an explosives-packed vehicle rammed into the gates of the empty courthouse. The Northern Ireland Secretary has condemned the attack.

A local hospital and several businesses received warning calls from IRA dissidents before the blast.

Most IRA members renounced violence and disarmed in 2005, but two factions continue to mount occasional attacks.

A police forensics officer inspects the wreckage of car that exploded outside the courthouse in Newry, Northern Ireland late on Monday. (AFP/Peter Muhly)