Car bomb witness recalls 'unbelievable bang'

A man who lives near a police station in Belfast where a car bomb exploded over the weekend has said he had "a very, very lucky escape".

A male delivery driver was hijacked in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast on Saturday night, a device was 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.

PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said the car bomb attack was "likely" to have been the work of the New IRA.

Local resident John McGuinness said he was watching snooker and his partner was asleep upstairs in their house when he heard a "big thud on the door".

He said he opened the door and was told by a police officer he had to get out of the house as there was a bomb.

Mr McGuinness said he ran upstairs to tell his partner and as they were about to leave the house, the bomb exploded.

"I had just walked, put my foot out onto the porch when the bomb went off," he said.

"I saw the debris flying past," Mr McGuinness said and added it was an "unbelievable bang and flash".

"If we had went out there one minute before, we would have been in close proximity to where the bomb went off," he added.

Mr McGuinness said they had a "very, very lucky escape" and described the incident as "scary".

"It's amazing there is no damage to the house," he added.

Mr McGuinness said they were taken to the police station and were there for about an hour and then brought to a community centre in Twinbrook.

He said he is thankful no one was injured in the incident and he hopes it doesn’t happen again.

Mr McGuinness asked those behind the attack, "what did you achieve?" and said the attack really upset people locally.

Mr McGuinness said as someone who had experienced the worst of the Troubles, he was shocked to be catapulted back into the past.

"The kind of things we thought were in the past.

"It was completely and utterly unexpected and shocking really.

"We just hoped that this was all over with and we'd seen the dark days and they were gone.

"I just hope it doesn't happen again," he said.