“I will begin by condemning the reckless and dangerous attack in Dunmurry on Saturday night. This is the second such attack in less than a month.

“My thoughts are with the delivery driver, of colleagues I’ve mentioned, of those local residents who had fear brought to their doors. But also to the incredible, brave police officers who rushed towards danger to make sure they evacuated those residents from the harm caused by this device.

“We have commenced an attempted murder investigation which will be led by our Terrorist Investigation Unit and we are at the early stages of that investigation. But this will not deter the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which is an incredible organisation, from doing what it’s here to do, and that is protect our communities.

“This attack will achieve absolutely nothing but unify condemnation by everyone, and the arrest and prosecution of those responsible. This was a deliberate, reckless and stupid attack that endangered so many people’s lives. The coercion of an innocent delivery driver and the placing of an explosive device in a residential area, shows complete disregard and stupidity, and brought danger to so many people. Today we have also released footage showing our officers placing themselves in harms way evacuating homes as the bomb detonated.

“This was not just an attack aimed at our incredible police officers and staff, this was an attack against everybody in society. These are mindless idiots, risking lives of not only local residents that included two young babies, who were taken into the safe custody of a police station by our courageous officers who ran to this fear and into residents’ houses to protect them. I want to acknowledge, especially the courage and professionalism of those officers, who responded so quickly and so professionally, to this cowardly attack, and undoubtedly saved lives.

“It’s everybody’s responsibility to call out these reckless attacks and that’s why we stand here today with the First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly and Chair of Northern Ireland Policing Board, Brendan Mullan. There is no place for these mindless thugs, these idiots who think it’s acceptable to carry out such stupid attacks.

“I can promise you, we will do all we can to identify them and bring them before the courts.

“Again, I would appeal to anybody with any information about the people responsible to please contact us, before these people actually harm or kill somebody. Please contact us if you know somebody. Even if you think you might know who is responsible, please reach out to the PSNI, before they actually do kill somebody.”