Hostility has intensified between the North's Police Ombudsman and the body representing all ranks within the PSNI.
Ms Nuala O'Loan's office yesterday dismissed as "improper" a press statement from the Police Association which criticised the Ombudsman's report on the Omagh bombing investigation and the leaking of affidavits from senior police officers which countered the official police position.
The association has appealed for a judicial review of Ms O'Loan's scathing report on the police handling of the Omagh case.
In its statement issued earlier this week, the association expressed dismay that the affidavits were detailed in The Irish Times rather than in the High Court where its appeal is to be heard. It also stated its belief that Ms O'Loan had acted illegally in the affair.
The Ombudsman's office replied yesterday that the association had been "provocative and inaccurate" and that it was up to the court to decide who if anyone had acted illegally or unlawfully.
The office also claimed it was at a loss to understand the association's suggestions that Ms O'Loan was trying to avert attention from core issues in the Omagh case by concentrating on "some alleged peripheral matter", namely the leadership of the investigation which Ms O'Loan said was seriously flawed.
Mr Alan McQuillan and Mr Sam Kinkaid swore the affidavits, which contradict Sir Ronnie Flanagan's response to the Ombudsman's criticisms of the Omagh case and run counter to another affidavit by Mr Raymond White, the former head of both Special and Crime Branches.