New IRA are chief suspects in car bomb attack outside PSNI station

The explosion in Dunmurry, southwest of the Northern Irish capital, took place at around 10.50pm on Saturday after a "gas cylinder-type device" was placed in a delivery driver’s hijacked car and driven to the location.

Two babies were among residents evacuated when the car bomb detonated, sending debris across the street.

It came weeks after another attempted bombing, when the device failed to explode outside a police station in the nearby town of Lurgan.

The New IRA claimed responsibility for that attack.   

"There are very many similarities between the two incidents and… our early working hypothesis is that this may well be the work of the New IRA," deputy chief constable Bobby Singleton of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said.

Investigators will "keep an open mind" and "it’s still the very early stages of the investigation", he added.

But it likely showed that "murderous intent and capability" still exists within paramilitaries in the UK territory, he noted.

"Police personnel immediately – and I have to say, extremely courageously, literally running into danger, placing themselves in harm’s way – evacuated nearby homes in order to protect the community," he said.

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The PSNI’s terrorism investigation unit has launched an attempted murder investigation.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill said those behind the attack "speak for absolutely no one".

She wrote: "Those behind last night’s attack in Dunmurry speak for absolutely no one. They have no vision, no support, and have nothing to offer our society. Our communities deserve peace. 

"No one is going to deny our young people and future generations that. We will keep progressing and we will keep moving forward to a better future."

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) has also condemned the attack.

In a statement, the AGSI said: "Our thoughts are with our PSNI colleagues and local community. Such acts of violence have no place in any society. We stand in full solidarity with all those who serve and protect."

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.