Police in Northern Ireland were on full alert yesterday after an officer's girlfriend narrowly escaped death when a bomb exploded under her car.

Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson condemned the attack and said the bombers had nothing to offer and would not succeed in plunging the province back into the dark days of its past.

The 38-year-old woman was pulled from her mangled sports car and treated in hospital for what miraculously turned out to be minor injuries before being discharged.

She was reversing the red Mazda MX5 out of the driveway of a semi-detached house in Kingsdale Gardens, a quiet residential street half a mile from police headquarters in east Belfast, when the bomb went off.

The blast at 7.30 a.m. sent shockwaves through the most unionist of areas and the entire police family.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the device had been designed to kill, and while they declined to point the finger of blame so early in their investigations, dissident republicans were suspected.

Last month the Real IRA exploded a bomb outside a policeman's home in Londonderry on the same day a pipe bomb failed to detonate outside his sister's home.

The Continuity IRA claimed responsibility for the murder of Constable Stephen Carroll who was shot dead in Craigavon in March.

Chief Superintendent Brian Maguire, who is leading the hunt for the bombers, said: "Clearly there are people out there in today's society who are still intent on causing murder and mayhem.

"The Army technical officer has confirmed this was a viable device capable of causing death or serious injury.

"We are investigating the possibility that this was an under-car booby-trap device."