NORTHERN IRISH trade unionists and members of the legislative assembly expressed sympathy for the family of the prison officer wounded by a dissident republican bomb, who died yesterday.

Adrian Ismay, whose identity has only now been made public, was rushed to hospital after being taken ill at home, where he was recovering from his injuries.

Mr Ismay required surgery for leg injuries after a bomb planted by the New IRA splinter group exploded under his van on March 4 as he was driving to work in loyalist east Belfast.

Police will await medical evidence before confirming whether his death will be treated as murder. Colleagues said he may have suffered a heart attack.

Mr Ismay was based at Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre in south Belfast, where he was a trainer for recruits to the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

In a statement to the BBC, the New IRA said the officer was targeted because he was involved in training other guards at HMP Maghaberry, near Lisburn.

The news of Mr Ismay’s death brought renewed condemnation of the New IRA from across the political spectrum.

First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, on a visit to Washington, said those responsible had “used the cover of darkness to inflict terror and try to create fear in our community.

“We cannot and will not allow people who are wedded to the past to set the tone and direction of our shared future.”

Sinn Fein assembly member Raymond McCartney said the culprits “do not speak for or act in the name of the Irish people.”

The Northern Ireland committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) called the attack “cowardly and reckless.”

ICTU assistant general secretary Peter Bunting said: “We are calling upon those who have any influence at all with these shadowy groupings behind these attacks to make it clear to the ‘dissidents’ that they must cease their pointless and brutal actions at once.

“The entire community must now speak as one and demand that these attacks end for good.”

Mr Bunting said trade unions would soon organise a vigil to allow people to express their “anger and horror at this foul deed.”