THE PSNI is considering the possibility that the New IRA may be behind Saturday night's bomb attack on a police station in Dunmurry on the outskirts of Belfast.
PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton drew comparisons with a similar attack on Lurgan Police Station four weeks ago, for which the dissident republican group claimed responsibility.
Speaking at a press conference today, DCC Singleton commended his fellow officers for saving people's lives, with the bomb exploding as residents were being evacuated.
"The actions of those who put people's lives at risk last night are quite obviously in very stark contrast to those of our personnel who not only prevented any injuries but, in my view, clearly saved lives," he said.
Babies taken to safety
Similar to the incident on Lurgan, Saturday's attack saw a delivery driver hijacked before a device was placed in the boot of his car.
He was then ordered to drive from Twinbrook in west Belfast to Dunmurry, where the car was parked outside the front of the town's police station.
Police said no warning was given by the perpetrators ahead of the attack.
DCC Singleton said that after learning about the device, police personnel activated the station's attack alarm and began evacuating nearby homes.
While the device in Lurgan failed to detonate, with a controlled explosion later carried out, the gas cylinder-type device at Dunmurry went off during the evacuation process.
"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," said DCC Singleton.
"A number of residents, including two babies, were being taken in to safety by officers when the device exploded, engulfing the vehicle in flames and sending debris in all directions.
The remains of the vehicle outside Dunmurry Police Station (Image: Charles McQuillan / Getty Images)"Many of you will have seen this morning what's left of the vehicle and the obvious devastation of the scene.
"This 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.
"For a device like this to have been deployed against police and in such close proximity to the public was idiotic, it was absolute madness."
DCC Singleton said police have launched an attempted murder investigation, which will be led by the Terrorism Investigation Unit.
While enquiries are still at an early stage, he compared Saturday's attack to the Lurgan incident.
"It is now the second attack of this nature in just a month," said DCC Singleton.
"There are very many similarities between the two incidents and as 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 back on March 30.
"Having said that, obviously our investigators will keep an open mind, it's still the very early stages of the investigation."
'Mindless idiots'
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher also condemned those behind the 'reckless and dangerous' incident, branding it 'an attack on everyone'.
"This was not just an attack aimed at our incredible and hard-working police officers and staff," he said.
"These mindless idiots wantonly risked the lives of local residents including very young children.
"This was an attack against the very society that so many people have strived to achieve.
"Anyone with any information whatsoever please come forward and help us stop these criminals before they actually hurt someone.
"There is no place for these people in our society. An attack on the PSNI is an attack on everyone."
Everything from irishpost.com and the print edition is available on the Irish Post App — plus more! Download it for Android or Apple IOS devices today.
