{"id":551952,"date":"2026-04-26T16:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T16:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/551952\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T16:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T16:56:07","slug":"new-ira-suspected-over-car-explosion-outside-belfast-police-station-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/551952\/","title":{"rendered":"New IRA suspected over car explosion outside Belfast police station | Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMurderous intent and capability\u201d still exists within paramilitaries in Northern Ireland<\/a>, officers have said after a car exploded outside a police station on the outskirts of Belfast.<\/p>\n

Detectives said they believed the New IRA was involved and are treating it as attempted murder.<\/p>\n

Bobby Singleton, the deputy chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said the car that exploded outside Dunmurry police station had been \u201chijacked\u201d in a way that bore similarities to an attack on Lurgan police station<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n

The vehicle was hijacked shortly after 10.50pm on Saturday in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast<\/a> and a gas cylinder device was placed in the boot. A male delivery driver was then ordered to drive the car to Dunmurry police station, in the Kingsway area, and abandon it outside.<\/p>\n

Residents including two babies were evacuated from nearby properties and no one was harmed in the explosion.<\/p>\n

The first minister, Michelle O\u2019Neill, said those behind the attack \u201cspeak for absolutely no one\u201d, while the DUP leader, Gavin Robinson, said police and the public \u201cshould never have to face this kind of danger\u201d.<\/p>\n

At a press conference at PSNI headquarters in Belfast on Sunday, Singleton said officers \u201cimmediately and courageously ran into danger, placing themselves in harm\u2019s way, and evacuated nearby homes to protect the community\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this type of device may have lacked in terms of its sophistication and scale, it more than made up for in its reckless unpredictability. Thanks to the swift actions of police, no one has been injured, which is nothing short of miraculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month a delivery driver was forced at gunpoint to transport a device to Lurgan police station, in an incident blamed on dissident republicans. The device failed to explode.<\/p>\n

Singleton said there were \u201cvery many similarities between the two incidents\u201d. \u201cAs a consequence of that, our early working hypothesis is that this may well be the work of the New IRA, who claimed responsibility for the attack in Lurgan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the terrorist threat level in Northern Ireland \u2013 currently at \u201csubstantial\u201d \u2013 should be reassessed, Singleton said: \u201cObviously the device in Lurgan hadn\u2019t functioned, but I think we can see that that was probably through good fortune more than anything else.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously last night reminds us of the murderous intent and capability that still exists and is regularly deployed against our officers, so it\u2019s vital that we remain vigilant in order to keep not only ourselves safe but also the wider community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singleton said there had been no warning about the attack, and explosives of the type used in Dunmurry could be \u201cextremely volatile\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scale and complexity of the device may not have been as big as we\u2019ve seen in the past. What it lacked in that definitely was made up for in terms of its recklessness, in terms of the construction \u2013 it engulfed the vehicle in flames and spread debris over a significant distance, so that in and of itself tells you just how dangerous it is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The chair of the Northern Ireland policing board, Brendan Mullan, said the device \u201cwas sent to kill officers and cause maximum harm in an attack which was in the heart of a residential area\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThis is the second incident at a police station in recent weeks, which is depressing. The people have spoken when they overwhelmingly endorsed the Good Friday agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liam Kelly, the chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, said the attack had \u201ccaused great upset and generated widespread and justifiable revulsion\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThis doesn\u2019t move the needle towards any particular goal. All it does is show that there are still people who want to murder my colleagues and deliver pain and suffering in our communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese faceless cowards are a throwback to the dark ages of the Troubles. They have no place in the society we are all striving to build, a society free from thuggery and terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cMurderous intent and capability\u201d still exists within paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, officers have said after a car exploded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-551952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}