Detectives in Northern Ireland are carrying out a huge manhunt after rookie police officer Ronan Kerr, 25, was killed by a booby trap car bomb yesterday.
His murder was condemned by the British and Irish Governments, the Northern Ireland Executive in Stormont, church leaders and cross-party representatives.
Number 10 released a statement from prime minister David Cameron condemning the "wicked and cowardly" bombing.
Cameron said Kerr had dedicated himself to serving the community of Northern Ireland.
"Those who carried out this wicked and cowardly crime will never succeed in dragging Northern Ireland back to a dark and bloody past," he said.
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"For our part the British Government stands fully behind the Chief Constable and his officers as they work to protect Northern Ireland from terrorism.
“And we, with our partners in the Northern Ireland Executive and the Irish Government, stand four square behind the people of Northern Ireland who have said time and again they want a peaceful, shared future."
Ireland's recently elected prime minister, Enda Kenny, described the bombing as "a heinous and pointless act of terrorism" and echoed Cameron's sentiments when he said: “Those who carried it out want to drag us back to the misery and pain of the past. They are acting in defiance of the Irish people.”
The police recruit had spent only weeks in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) when the device exploded under the vehicle outside his home on the outskirts of Omagh, Co Tyrone, at 4pm yesterday.
Dissident republicans opposed to the peace process are believed to have carried out the killing.
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Sinn Féin's president, Gerry Adams, sent his condolences to the family of the murdered officer. "Sinn Féin is determined that those responsible will not set back the progress of the pace and political process," Adams said.
Sinn Féin deputy leader Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander who is the senior Catholic in Northern Ireland's four-year-old unity government, said: "While those behind this act seek to promote division and conflict, let us state clearly: They will fail. The process of peacebuilding will continue and the community is united in rejection of them."
The province's first minister, Peter Robinson, described the bombing as an evil act by a minuscule group and said the community would unite against such violent threats.
A man whose son died in the Omagh bombing of 1998 called the attack a "double insult".
Michael Gallagher lost his 21-year-old son Aidan in the dissident republican Real IRA blast which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.
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He said the decision target the Co Tyrone town again would bring back horrific memories for many.
"Omagh will be a very sad place’” he said.
"They have changed an entire family and family circle forever. I feel a lot of anger that another young life has been stolen, and that this has happened again in our town."
Last night tributes were paid to PC Kerr, who it was said represented a new generation of officers trying to repair the image of the province's police among the Catholic community. Democratic Unionist Jonathan Bell said he was devastated about the murder and called Kerr a "young hero serving his entire community".