Police in Northern Ireland have confirmed what everyone suspected: paramilitaries still have both the desire and the ability to kill people. This revelation came after a car exploded outside a police station on the outskirts of Belfast, in what detectives are treating as attempted murder.
Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the vehicle was hijacked around 10:50pm Saturday in Twinbrook, west Belfast, and fitted with a gas cylinder device in the boot. A delivery driver was then ordered to drive the car to Dunmurry police station and abandon it. Residents, including two babies, were evacuated, and miraculously no one was hurt when the device exploded.
Singleton noted the incident bore "very many similarities" to an attack on Lurgan police station in March, where a delivery driver was forced at gunpoint to transport a device that failed to detonate. "Our early working hypothesis is that this may well be the work of the New IRA," he said, the group that claimed responsibility for Lurgan.
First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the attackers "speak for absolutely no one," while DUP leader Gavin Robinson added that police and the public "should never have to face this kind of danger." UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack on X, promising that "those responsible will be brought to justice."
Singleton described the device as lacking sophistication but making up for it with "reckless unpredictability," engulfing the car in flames and scattering debris. He said the attack demonstrates the "murderous intent and capability that still exists" against officers, urging vigilance. The terrorist threat level in Northern Ireland remains at "substantial."
Liam Kelly, chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, called the attackers "faceless cowards" and "a throwback to the dark ages of the Troubles," adding that the attack "doesn't move the needle towards any particular goal" - just reminds everyone that some people still want to murder police officers for fun.