A 66-year-old man has been charged with multiple offences, including attempted murder, following a car bombing that targeted a police station in County Antrim. The attack occurred on the night of 25 April outside Dunmurry police station, located to the south-west of Belfast. Police have indicated that they believe the New IRA may have been responsible.
Charges and court appearance
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed on Friday that the man, arrested under the Terrorism Act earlier in the week, was due to appear before Lisburn magistrates court on Saturday. He has been charged with attempted murder, possessing explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, possession of articles for use in terrorism, and hijacking by compelling persons to act.
Details of the attack
The suspect is believed to have hijacked a vehicle from a male delivery driver in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast on Saturday, accompanied by an accomplice, with at least one of them armed with a pistol. They placed a gas cylinder device in the boot and forced the driver to head towards the police station under threat of death. Upon arrival, the driver escaped and alerted security personnel at the station. Police evacuated the area before the device detonated. No casualties were reported.
Police response and similarities to prior incidents
Speaking the next day, Bobby Singleton, the deputy chief constable of the PSNI, stated that the attack bore similarities to an incident in March that targeted a police station in County Armagh. In both cases, masked individuals commandeered a civilian vehicle and fitted it with an explosive device. Singleton praised the officers who “immediately and courageously ran into danger, placing themselves in harm’s way, and evacuated nearby homes to protect the community,” describing it as “nothing short of miraculous” that nobody was hurt.
Historical context: proxy bombs
The attack has parallels with the tactic of proxy bombs, or human bombs, employed by the Provisional IRA—from which the New IRA is a distant splinter group—during the Troubles. This tactic involved forcing individuals to drive vehicles containing explosives to British military targets, often resulting in the death of the driver and those in the vicinity. The coerced individuals acted against their will, with their families frequently threatened to ensure compliance, and they were sometimes selected due to prior contact with British security forces.
