A dangerous dissident republican group, the New IRA, which is allegedly linked to Iran and Hezbollah, claimed responsibility Tuesday for a car bomb outside a Belfast police station before warning of further attacks, according to reports.
The blast targeted a Police Service of Northern Ireland station in Dunmurry, and police increased patrols after the group threatened to target officers at their homes.
A 66-year-old man was also arrested Tuesday under terrorism laws after the explosion.
In a statement attributed to the “leadership of the IRA,” the group said the bomb was meant to kill officers leaving the station.
It warned that anyone cooperating with police “will be severely dealt with.”
A 2020 report by The Times, citing information from an MI5 informant, alleged connections among the New IRA, Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
A police officer investigates the site of a car bombing outside a Belfast Police Department on April 26, 2026.
A Hezbollah flag is raised during a rally held in Huthi-controlled Sanaa, Yemen, on Oct. 4, 2024.AFP via Getty Images
The report said individuals linked to the group signed a book of condolences after the 2020 killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad, raising concerns about possible external support, including weapons and funding.
“The New IRA–Hezbollah link is a useful data point in a much larger pattern: the operationalization of the so-called axis of resistance,” former Defense Department intelligence officer Andrew Badger told Fox News Digital.
“This joins Russia, Iran, China, North Korea and an expanding bench of aligned non-state actors into a working logistical and tradecraft network across the globe,” Badger said.
