The hijacking of a car at gunpoint in Co Tyrone is another appalling act of intimidation targeting both police and the wider community.
Three masked men stopped the car near St Mary's Church in Drumragh on Saturday night. It is understood a suspicious object was placed inside and the motorist ordered to take it to Omagh PSNI station.
The subsequent security alert forced people to leave their homes, while Mass at the church was cancelled as police checked the area.
Two people were arrested and two vehicles seized in search and arrest operations carried out under the Terrorism Act.
There will be concern that it is the second time in recent months that the driver of a hijacked car has been ordered to transport a suspicious object to a police station.
Last November, a delivery driver was forced to bring what was confirmed to be an explosive device to Waterside PSNI Station in Derry. Republican paramilitary group Arm na Poblachta later claimed responsibility.
In the same month, the New IRA targeted a police car in Strabane with an improvised explosive device, leaving two officers uninjured but shaken.
An attempt to hijack a vehicle in Derry in February this year was unsuccessful.
While the object placed in the car at the weekend was still being examined yesterday, the ordeal suffered by the driver can only be imagined.
It is the latest alarming incident targeting police in Co Tyrone, after New IRA gunmen shot and seriously injured Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell at a sports complex on the outskirts of Omagh in February.
MI5 recently raised the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland to severe – meaning an attack is highly likely – in response to an upsurge in dissident activity.
Omagh has previously suffered grievously from the actions of dissident republicans with the murder of young PSNI officer Ronan Kerr in 2011 as well as the devastating Real IRA bomb in 1998 that claimed 29 lives, including a woman pregnant with twins.
The people of Co Tyrone and further afield have made clear on each occasion that those who employ fear and intimidation in pursuit of their twisted goals have no support in the community and represent only themselves.
Their actions serve only to cause disruption and distress and anyone with information about the latest hijacking should come forward so that those responsible can be stopped.
