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"Let them come forward if they have any stomach or guts at all and defend what's going on," he said of those who planted the device outside Newry courthouse in Co Down.

Dissident republicans have been blamed for the 250lb bomb which went off at 10.37pm on Monday night, as officers were still evacuating the area.

'Miracle'

The blue Mazda vehicle, which carried registration plates from Co Monaghan, was abandoned after being reversed against the gates of the court.

Police said it was a "miracle" no-one was injured or killed in the explosion.

PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott said there was "absolutely no excuse for bringing bombs onto our streets."

"It was clearly reckless at the best and callous at the worst," he said.

"But added to that, the timing given was severely limited."

Coded warnings were phoned in to a local hospital at 10.20pm and a local business at 10.22pm giving officers about 17 minutes to clear the area before the bomb exploded.

The gates of the heavily fortified courthouse were badly damaged and people for miles around said they clearly heard the blast and windows were shaken.

Newry city centre was sealed off on Tuesday as police forensic experts combed area for clues.

Many road closures have since been lifted but New Street remains closed.

Classes at nearby Windsor Hill Primary School have also been cancelled.

Chief Constable Baggott said he understood the frustration of residents, but that the disruption was unavoidable.

"It's important that we take as long as it takes to deal with this scene (in Newry) as a crime scene, do everything we can forensically to understand what's happened, to understand what we've got because that's essential to bringing these people to justice," he said.

"And the second thing is in relation to both (Keady and Newry) we ask some of our technical officers to do a job that quite frankly I would never want to do personally.

"We ask them to do a job responsibly to defuse and deal with devices that are put there to maim or kill.

"I have been a little disappointed by some of the comments, such as 'why couldn't you do it quicker?'," he added.

"Well I will never, never ask anybody that's tasked on our behalf with defusing things to 'hurry it up', because quite frankly we owe it to these brave courageous people to give them as much time as they need to deal with these things on our behalf."

The Stormont Assembly opened its proceedings on Tuesday with cross-party condemnation of the attack, which comes just days after a mortar bomb failed to detonate outside a police station in nearby Keady village.

Last March dissidents shot dead two soldiers at Massereene army barracks in Antrim. Two days later they gunned down police constable Stephen Carroll in Craigavon, Co Armagh as he answered a call for help.

In September police discovered a 600lb bomb in the south Armagh village of Forkhill.

Last month a Catholic police officer was seriously injured in car bomb attack in Co Antrim while a number of police stations have been shot at in recent weeks.

The Newry attack is thought to be the first time a large car bomb has exploded in Northern Ireland since the Real IRA bombing of Omagh in 1998.

Reactions:

• First Minister Peter Robinson:

"The people who carried out this attack are determined to destroy all that has been achieved in recent months."

"Their sole aim is to return Northern Ireland to its darkest past.

"They will not succeed, for I am equally determined that we will continue to move forward and to protect and defend the very same institutions they seek to destroy."

• Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness:

"I am determined that last night's attack will not undermine the progress we have made.

"The perpetrators are acting against the democratically expressed wishes of all of the people of Ireland. They have nothing to offer our society.

"We will continue on the road we have set out upon to deliver a better future.

"Attacks such as this are futile and serve only to strengthen our resolve."

• Prime Minister Gordon Brown:

"Northern Ireland's politicians have been working incredibly hard to deliver a successful conclusion to the peace process and they will not allow a tiny minority to turn the clock back".

• Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward:

"This is an act of senseless violence by a small handful of people who refuse to accept the people's overwhelming support for the peace process.

"The best message that could be sent to them is a powerful rejection of violence through the completion of devolution."

• UUP Deputy leader Danny Kennedy:

"If there is to be an appropriate political reaction, there must also, in my view and in the view of my party, be an effective security reponse."

"I and my party have been concerned for some time that the threats posed by republican dissidents have been viewed with a certain amount of complacency by the chief constable and his senior command, and by senior political figures including the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in the mistaken belief that these individuals (dissidents) were unrepresentative and lacked the manpower to cause serious problems."

• Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin:

"This was a reckless, cowardly, criminal act which put at grave risk the lives of the community in Newry".

"This attack cannot be justified or excused. Its only purpose was to inflict suffering. Its perpetrators have no mandate or legitimacy."

• US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

"I strongly condemn the bombing last night. It was another cowardly act of violence by those who would prefer to plant bombs than to argue for votes and participate in the political process.

"The parties in Northern Ireland have similarly condemned that action in the strongest terms and I urge that everyone continue to work towards seeing the devolution of authority and a better future for Northern Ireland."

© UTV News