A SENIOR police officer has branded dissident republicans who fired a shot and threw more than 100 petrol bombs at officers as no better than Islamic State.
PSNI Superintendent David Moore said those responsible for the serious disorder in Lurgan could be "compared to Daesh", a terror group also known as IS.
Mr Moore said officers had been lured into the Lake Street area by a bomb warning, which was intended to confuse police. A potentially explosive device was found near the railway line.
He said officers endured five hours of "serious and sustained" violence on Sunday with at least one round fired at police during the disorder.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr Moore said: "The people that are behind this have no ideology, they have nothing to offer.
"In many respects they can be compared to Daesh, they have got little to offer but destruction in their own communities and apart from the people who wanted to use that cross-border rail link this morning, it is the people in their own communities that are suffering the most as a result of this."
Police said 25 paint bombs, bricks and other masonry were also thrown by a "large and aggressive crowd" who gathered at around 9pm and remained until the early hours of yesterday morning.
Helicopter air support, specially trained riot police from other parts of Northern Ireland and dog teams were brought in to help.
No officers or members of the public were injured, however, police vehicles were damaged.
Mr Moore said: "We are very lucky not only to be dealing with the loss of life or serious injury to a police officer but we could be dealing with any member of the community in the same position this morning".
The attack happened close to the Portadown railway line following the discovery of a suspect device and led to the closure of the rail link between Belfast and Dublin.
"This was done for no other reason than to bring my officers into the particular place in Lurgan in order to attack them," said Mr Moore.
"The work of dissident republicans is evident here, not in any way organised, because it is the easiest thing to drop something on a railway line and have someone drunk batter on the window of a crossing guard's booth.
"It is the easiest thing to make phone calls...to try their best to confuse the police response.
"Eventually we deployed in a very careful, tactically sound way and what did we find? Five hours of sustained violence waiting for us."
He said rioters included young easily influenced men and bewildered older men who have not realised that the world has moved on.
DUP MP David Simpson described the violence as ""absolutely disgraceful".
"It would seem clear that dissident republican terrorists are responsible for this trouble, particularly given the prolonged and orchestrated nature," he said.
"Those who engage in terrorism and violence today are merely emulating those who attempted to use such failed tactics in the past.
"There can be little doubt that the continued glorification of past terrorism plays into the hands of those who hold the community to ransom today."
Sinn Féin's Catherine Seeley said those behind the attacks have no political vision or strategy.
"It is completely and utterly futile," she said.
"It is important to point out that this does not reflect the views of the community of the north Lurgan area, most of whom, I am sure, would strongly agree that those responsible should stop immediately and allow the community to live in peace."
