A car exploded outside a police station in Northern Ireland in an incident that grimly echoes the “troubles” terrorist attacks.
Videos of the car being consumed in a raging inferno outside the Police Service of Northern Ireland station in Dunmurry emerged on social media early Sunday morning Irish time. Various reports said it was a bomb, though there was no confirmation from authorities.
“A car bomb has exploded at the gates of Dunmurry police station,” Irish journalist Kevin Scott posted on X.
A car bomb exploded outside a police station in Northern Ireland.
Social media users reported hearing a loud bang, and posted disturbing videos of the aftermath of the explosion.
“Anyone near the west belfast [sic] hear that massive bang? All my neighbours are out and my dad rang me panicking, it was very feckin loud,” a Reddit user wrote.
The car was reportedly hijacked prior to the blast, and no police officers were reported injured in the attack.
A “major security alert” had been initiated outside the police station after the attack, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
Police cordoned off the road and can be seen in videos responding to the blaze as a massive plume of black smoke ascended toward the sky.
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“Members of the public are asked to avoid the area. Cordons are in place and an evacuation operation is underway,” the PSNI said in a statement to the Irish Times.
A bomb disposal robot was spotted at the scene an hour after the attack, and debris from the explosion was scattered across the road, which remained closed, Scott posted on X.
Car bombings were a frequent and devastating tactic during “The Troubles,” a three-decade-long conflict between the Roman Catholic Republicans who sought to integrate Northern Ireland into a united Ireland and the Protestant Unionists who sought to remain part of the United Kingdom that lasted from 1968-1998.
The police were on the scene.
The conflict was resolved by the Good Friday Agreement which established a Northern Ireland assembly that shared power with the UK and cross-border cooperation between the Irish and Northern Irish governments.
Over 3,600 were killed and over 30,000 were injured during the years of sectarian violence.
Though the two sides have largely lived in peace since the accords were signed, Northern Ireland police stations have been sporadically targeted with attacks by splinter groups who seek to break away from the UK.
The attacks occurred while the Sinn Féin, which advocates for a United Ireland and is associated with the Ireland Republican Army held its annual conference, called the Ard Fheis, in Belfast for the first time since 2018.
Locals were dismayed by the attack and the bloody memories it conjured up.