A 66-year-old Belfast man appeared in court in Northern Ireland on Saturday charged with five offenses, including attempted murder, over a car bomb attack outside a police station near Belfast.
Kieran Smyth was charged late Friday with attempted murder, possessing explosives and articles for use in terrorism. The April 25 attack, which caused an explosion but no casualties, was claimed by the dissident New Irish Republican Army.
Arrested on Tuesday, Smyth appeared via video link at Lisburn Magistrates’ Court.
Police told the court the attackers ordered Chinese takeaway before forcing the delivery driver at gunpoint to drive the gas-canister bomb to the station with a 30-minute timer. The driver raised the alarm, and police had begun evacuating nearby homes when the device exploded.
Officers linked Smyth to the attack after a phone number used in the plot was topped up in a Belfast supermarket, immediately followed by a top-up to a bank account in his name. He was identified on CCTV carrying out both transactions.
The New IRA is designated as a terrorist organization by the UK, US, and others. Its members seek to end British rule in Northern Ireland and achieve a united Ireland by force. The group rejects the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
