Dunmurry car bomb attack ‘likely to be New IRA’, says chief constable
PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher described the incident as an ‘irresponsible, unacceptable act of violence’ (Niall Carson/PA)
A car bomb attack at a police station in Co Antrim is “likely” to have been the work of the New IRA, PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher has said.
A male delivery driver was hijacked in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast on Saturday night, a device placed inside the vehicle and he was ordered to drive to Dunmurry police station.
The car later exploded outside the station as local residents were being evacuated.
The incident came just weeks after an attempted car bomb attack on Lurgan police station.
Mr Boutcher talked about “a period of behaviour that we need to address very quickly”.
He paid tribute to the delivery driver in the latest incident – who he said had been forced to drive the vehicle to Dunmurry police station after being hijacked at gunpoint – as an “incredibly brave guy”.
“He alerted police staff and officers as to what had happened, and then obviously we undertook an evacuation,” he said.
“The officers, without any consideration for their own safety, came out of the police station to make sure that residents from nearby to the car were evacuated to ensure they were kept safe and, at that point, the device within the car detonated causing quite some damage, but fortunately nobody was seriously injured or killed,” he told BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show.
“Absolutely irresponsible, unacceptable act of violence in today, 2026 in Northern Ireland. We hoped these days were behind us.”
Asked whether police had any intelligence to suggest it would happen, Mr Boutcher said: “We didn’t anticipate this. We did have an incident at Lurgan a few short weeks ago, a very similar incident where a car was hijacked at gunpoint and was driven into the front of Lurgan police station.
“We are seeing a period of behaviour from these utterly mindless thugs, who nobody supports, nobody is with them, nobody is behind them. We’re seeing a period of behaviour that we need to address very quickly, arrest them and put them where they belong which is in prison.
“In the first instance at Lurgan, responsibility was claimed by the New IRA, no-one has yet claimed responsibility for the incident from last night which put so many members of the public and children’s lives at risk, as well as police officers.
“But we’re expecting to hear a claim of responsibility, and from what we know, it may likely again be the New IRA.”
Mr Boutcher said the service’s security footprint would be increased around areas of concern, and measures taken to ensure police officers felt safe.
“They (police officers) are the thin green line that keeps society safe, and nobody, not these idiots, not these mindless thugs, nobody is going to distract us from doing that job,” he said.
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