PSNI detectives investigating the attempted murder of a prison officer in Belfast have arrested a 35-year-old woman.

The 52-year-old prison officer was seriously injured last Friday when a bomb exploded under his van as he drove to work.

The woman was arrested in Belfast this afternoon and is being questioned by police.

Police have also been granted another 24 hours to question three men, aged in their 30s and 40s, who were arrested on Sunday evening in connection with the attack.

A dissident republican group calling itself the New IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Security services in the North are on heightened alert as it is feared that dissident republicans will attempt to carry out attacks in the lead up the centenary of the Easter Rising.