thern Ireland has died after being caught up in a booby-trap car bomb.
The device exploded under the vehicle outside the Catholic officer's home in Omagh, Co Tyrone, just before 4pm.
Sky's Northern Ireland correspondent Vicki Hawthorne said: "Police have confirmed that some kind of device exploded underneath the car.
"They say the vehicle belonged to a new recruit of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and that he was a Catholic officer."
No group has claimed responsibility but the finger of blame is being pointed at republican dissidents who have repeatedly planted bombs underneath the cars of police officers.
Hawthorne said: "It has been a tactic used by dissident republican terrorists who are trying to derail the political process in Northern Ireland and hoping to discourage young Catholics from joining the police service."
This evil and cowardly attack will sicken everyone across Northern Ireland. These crimes are targeted on those who protect the community. We all deeply mourn the brave young man whose life was taken by this savage crime.
Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Shaun Woodward
The dead officer, who has not been named, is said to have graduated from police college just three weeks ago.
Belfast journalist Eamonn Mallie told Sky News: "Three weeks into his service, he is dead.
"I've been told by a local MP that this young officer, who was well-liked, went to a Christian school in Omagh, so he was very much connected in the community.
"Those who targeted him would have known where he was going to be. It is understood that the bomb went off as the officer moved towards the car. He died at the scene."
There has been widespread condemnation of the attack, north and south of the border.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said: "I want to send my condolences to his family at this hugely traumatic time.
"Sinn Fein is determined that those responsible will not set back the progress of the peace and political process."
Police officers at the scene of the car bomb attack
Meanwhile, Paul McKeever, of the Police Federation, described the attack as "absolutely despicable".
He told Sky News: "This shows the nature of the sort of vile cowards involved in this sort of atrocity.
"They are not normal members of society and they have chosen to go a very different way to the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland who want to live peacefully in their communities and one to be served by a very fine police force."
Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Shaun Woodward said: "This evil and cowardly attack will sicken everyone across Northern Ireland.
"These crimes are targeted on those who protect the community. We all deeply mourn the brave young man whose life was taken by this savage crime.
"We all have a duty to stop those behind it from succeeding."
Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister said the attack underscored the depth of the continuing threat from terrorists.
The 1988 Omagh car bomb attack killed 29 people
Over the past year-and-a-half there have been several similar incidents targeting members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Some of the devices have failed to detonate, but in January last year a serving police officer lost both his legs in an explosion.
The killing is the first in Northern Ireland since the dissident republican Continuity IRA group shot dead a policeman in Co Armagh in March 2009.
The attack will serve as a painful reminder to the people of Omagh.
In 1988 IRA dissidents committed the deadliest single bombing of the entire Northern Ireland conflict in Omagh when a car bomb killed 29 people.
Later on in the same year, the peace accords mostly ended the three decades of sectarian violence between Protestant unionists and Catholic nationalists.
But in recent months, dissident republicans opposed to the peace process have stepped up paramilitary activity.
