Police in Northern Ireland have arrested four men after a car bombing this weekend that is being investigated for links to the New Irish Republican Army (IRA) militant group, Reuters reported on Monday.

Two suspects, both in their 20s, were arrested just hours after the Saturday evening explosion in North Ireland’s Londonderry. Another two suspects, men aged 34 and 42, were arrested later on Sunday, according to Reuters. No one was injured by the bomb, which was detonated outside the city’s courthouse.

“Fortunately it didn’t kill anybody but clearly it was a very significant attempt to kill people here in this community,” Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton told reporters.

It isn’t the first time that Derry’s courthouse has been targeted in this way, and from similarly motivated militants. In March 2011, a similar vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED) was positioned in front of the same building.

The IED contained 50kg of home-made explosives and on examination by British Army bomb disposal experts, the device was found to be unstable, but viable.

In 2018 alone, the New IRA is believed to have placed 17 explosive devices and 24 punishment shootings throughout Northern Ireland.

The motivation of the attack has been attributed to the talk of a ‘hard border’ associated with the current No-Deal Brexit, which has given oxygen to groups such as the New IRA, providing a perfect storm where the national discourse of Ireland, which has reverted back to a peculiarly toxic narrative around identity and borders on the island.