The New IRA has said it will target the homes of PSNI officers as it claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on the outskirts of west Belfast on Saturday.
The dissident republican group said the weekend attack at Dunmurry PSNI station was intended to kill officers as they attempted to leave the building.
In a statement from the “leadership of the IRA”, using a codeword, the group also threatened that anyone who provides information to the PSNI “will be severely dealt with”.
No-one was injured after a delivery driver was hijacked in the Twinbrook area at around 10.50pm on Saturday.
The New IRA has said it will continue its armed campaign
A gas cylinder was placed in the vehicle before the driver was ordered to take the bomb to the station, where it exploded, ripping the hijacked car apart and causing a fireball.
The attack came just weeks after a delivery driver was ordered by the New IRA to take a bomb to Lurgan PSNI station, which failed to detonate.
The paramilitary group has claimed the Dunmurry device included Semtex high explosives, an electrical detonator and “intricate timing device which had 30 minutes on it”.
“This was to give the driver time to get away,” the statement said.
“The gas cylinder was to create a fireball.
“The driver was told to shout ‘there’s a bomb in the car’ and leave the area.”
The hardline group also said the bomb was meant to kill PSNI officers rather than target the station building.
“The intention was to kill police coming out of the station,” the statement said.
“This was not an attack on the station, it was an attack aimed at police leaving the station.”
The paramilitary group, emerged in 2012 after independent republicans, Republican Action Against Drugs and the Real IRA joined forces, has said it will start to target police officers in their homes.
“It is our intention, if they keep harassing the republican people, to bomb them in their own houses, with no warning,” the statement said.
“We have plenty of Semtex and plenty of engineers and we know where they live.
“We are well aware they are working to an MI5 agenda.”
The attack on Dunmurry station has attracted widespread political condemnation.
In its statement the New IRA threatened anyone who co-operates with the police.
“We warn anyone collaborating with British crown forces,” it said.
“Anyone who gives information to the crown forces, whoever they are, or wherever they come from, will be severely dealt with.”
The statement also said the paramilitary group will continue its campaign.
They added: “This will continue until the British give a declaration to withdraw.”
First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly joined by Chief Constable Jon Boutcher and Brendan Mullan, Chair of the Policing Board. PICTURE: MAL MCCANN
At a press conference in Stormont on Monday chief constable Jon Boutcher was joined by Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O’Neill, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and Policing Bod chair Brendan Mullan.
Ms O’Neill condemned the attack.
“We are absolutely united in condemnation of what has happened, nobody wants to see this on our streets, nobody wants to see the fear that that community experienced on Saturday evening,” she said.
“I don’t think this is a day for political nonsense.
“I think this is a day for strong condemnation.”
“This is a day for us to be united in saying these groups have no place in our society, and it’s a day for us all to say collectively that anybody with any information whatsoever should come forward to the PSNI, because these people need to be dealt with before the courts.”
The DUP’s Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly echoed Ms O’Neill’s comments.
“There is a responsibility across all of the political parties, particularly at a leadership level, to be sending a very clear message, a condemnation of this terrorist attack on Saturday night, but indeed, a very clear condemnation right across the piece,” she said.