{"id":418522,"date":"2026-04-26T14:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T14:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/418522\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T14:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T14:18:09","slug":"two-babies-evacuated-by-officers-when-car-exploded-outside-northern-ireland-police-station-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/418522\/","title":{"rendered":"Two babies evacuated by officers when car exploded outside Northern Ireland police station \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two babies were being taken to safety by officers when a hijacked car exploded outside a Co Antrim<\/a> police station on Saturday night, the Police Service of Northern Ireland<\/a> (PSNI) has said. <\/p>\n

At a press conference in Belfast<\/a> on Sunday, Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton praised the bravery of police officers who \u201cimmediately and courageously ran into danger, placing themselves in harm\u2019s way, and evacuated nearby homes\u201d. <\/p>\n

They were in the process of evacuating residents when the hijacked car \u201cexploded, engulfing the vehicle in flames and sending debris in all directions\u201d.<\/p>\n

An \u201cearly working hypothesis\u201d is that dissident republican group the New IRA \u201cmay well be\u201d responsible, he said. <\/p>\n

On Sunday morning the remnants of the burnt-out car could be seen against the perimeter of Dunmurry police station. <\/p>\n

A security operation is ongoing, and residents in the Kingsway area remain out of their homes, with people asked to avoid the area. <\/p>\n

\"ForensicForensic officers gather evidence at the scene of a reported car explosion near Dunmurry police station. Photograph: Charles McQuillan\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters, Singleton said \u201cmany of you will have seen … what\u2019s left of the vehicle and the absolute devastation of the scene. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis clearly demonstrates that what this type of device may have lacked in terms of its sophistication and scale, it more than made up for in its reckless unpredictability. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor a device like this to have been deployed against police, and in such close proximity to the public, was idiotic. It was absolute madness,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He said that shortly after 10.50pm on Saturday, a delivery driver\u2019s car was hijacked in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast and a gas cylinder placed in the boot of the vehicle. <\/p>\n

The delivery driver was ordered to drive his car to Dunmurry police station. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe vehicle was abandoned outside the front of the station and police personnel immediately activated the station\u2019s attack alarm,\u201d Singleton said. <\/p>\n

\u201cPolice officers immediately and courageously ran into danger, placing themselves in harm\u2019s way, and evacuated nearby homes to protect the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cA number of residents, including two babies, were being taken to safety by officers when the device exploded, engulfing the vehicle in flames and sending debris in all directions.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said the quick actions of police had \u201cclearly saved lives\u201d ad it was \u201cnothing short of miraculous\u201d that nobody had been injured. <\/p>\n

He said his thoughts were with \u201call those affected by this cowardly attack, the delivery driver for whom this will have been an extremely traumatic experience, residents who are still unable to return to their homes, our courageous officers and of course their families, who will be grateful their loved ones are safe, but will undoubtedly have been left shaken by the ordeal\u201d. <\/p>\n

An attempted murder investigation has been launched, and he appealed for anyone with information, especially those who may have seen the hijacked vehicle in Twinbrook before 11pm, to contact police. <\/p>\n

\"AnyoneAnyone with information about those responsible is urged to report it to the police on 101, or anonymously through Crimestoppers. Photograph: Charles McQuillan\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

The attack has been widely condemned. <\/p>\n

In a joint statement on Sunday, the First and deputy First Ministers condemned the attack, saying those responsible had put lives in danger. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is extremely fortunate that nobody was killed or seriously injured by the selfish actions of those who have nothing to offer our society,\u201d Michelle O\u2019Neill<\/a> said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt all right-thinking people will reject this sort of behaviour and see it as a cowardly attempt to try and drag us all backwards,\u201d said Emma Little-Pengelly<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Northern Ireland\u2019s Chief Constable, Jon Boucher, condemned the \u201cmindless idiots\u201d who \u201cwantonly risked the lives of local residents, including very young children\u201d and said it was \u201ceveryone\u2019s responsibility to call out such reckless attacks.\u201d <\/p>\n

Singleton said he welcomed and echoed that condemnation and said police were \u201cgrateful for the support that\u2019s been shown to us today\u201d. <\/p>\n

It is the second attack on a police station in Northern Ireland within weeks. <\/p>\n

Last month, a delivery driver was hijacked, a device placed in the boot of his car, and ordered to drive it to Lurgan police station in Co Armagh. <\/p>\n

Around 100 residents were evacuated and a controlled explosion was carried out. <\/p>\n

Police said it was \u201chighly likely\u201d dissident republicans were responsible. <\/p>\n

Brendan Mullan, the chairman of the Police Service of Northern Ireland\u2019s (PSNI) oversight body, condemned those responsible for the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis explosive device was sent to kill officers and cause maximum harm in an attack which was in the heart of a residential area,\u201d Mullan said.<\/p>\n

DUP<\/a> leader Gavin Robinson described the reports as \u201cdeeply concerning\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIf this was another attempt by dissident republicans to intimidate communities and target the police, then it must be met with the full force of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn<\/a> said he was \u201cappalled\u201d by the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a shameless and cowardly attack on the brave men and women who work so hard to keep our communities safe in Northern Ireland,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in MP for Belfast West Paul Maskey said in a statement: \u201cThose involved represent no one, are void of support and have nothing to offer our society. <\/p>\n

\"BrendanBrendan Mullan: ‘This explosive device was sent to kill officers and cause maximum harm.’ Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

\u201cThey should get off the backs of our communities who want to live in peace and continue moving forward to a better future.\u201d<\/p>\n

People Before Profit MLA for Belfast West Gerry Carroll said the bomb had caused confusion, uncertainty and fear in the area. \u201cThankfully, nobody has been seriously injured but it could have been a different story altogether with this completely reckless action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Party councillor for the area, Michael Collins, added: \u201cFor all the deep and real problems that exist in our community, like poverty, inequality and state repression, planting car bombs to explode in a public place offers not a single shred of hope or positive change to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of West Belfast don\u2019t want car bombs in their area \u2013 nowhere does. This must end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting \u2013 PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two babies were being taken to safety by officers when a hijacked car exploded outside a Co Antrim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4501,42,43,21754,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-418522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-belfast","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland-psni","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}