“Murderous intent and capability” still exists within paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, officers have said after a car exploded outside a police station on the outskirts of Belfast.

Detectives said they believed the New IRA was involved and are treating it as attempted murder.

Bobby Singleton, the deputy chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said the car that exploded outside Dunmurry police station had been “hijacked” in a way that bore similarities to an attack on Lurgan police station in March.

The vehicle was hijacked shortly after 10.50pm on Saturday in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast and a gas cylinder device was placed in the boot. A male delivery driver was then ordered to drive the car to Dunmurry police station, in the Kingsway area, and abandon it outside.

Residents including two babies were evacuated from nearby properties and no one was harmed in the explosion.

The first minister, Michelle O’Neill, said those behind the attack “speak for absolutely no one”, while the DUP leader, Gavin Robinson, said police and the public “should never have to face this kind of danger”.

At a press conference at PSNI headquarters in Belfast on Sunday, Singleton said officers “immediately and courageously ran into danger, placing themselves in harm’s way, and evacuated nearby homes to protect the community”.

He said: “A number of residents, including two babies, were being taken to safety by officers when the device exploded, engulfing the vehicle in flames and sending debris in all directions.

“What this type of device may have lacked in terms of its sophistication and scale, it more than made up for in its reckless unpredictability. Thanks to the swift actions of police, no one has been injured, which is nothing short of miraculous.”

Last month a delivery driver was forced at gunpoint to transport to Lurgan police station a device that failed to explode, in an incident blamed on dissident republicans.

Singleton said there were “very many similarities between the two incidents”. “As a consequence of that, our early working hypothesis is that this may well be the work of the New IRA, who claimed responsibility for the attack in Lurgan,” he said.

Asked whether the terror threat level in Northern Ireland – currently at “substantial” – should be reassessed, Singleton said: “Obviously the device in Lurgan hadn’t functioned, but I think we can see that that was probably through good fortune more than anything else.

“Obviously last night reminds us of the murderous intent and capability that still exists and is regularly deployed against our officers, so it’s vital that we remain vigilant in order to keep not only ourselves safe but also the wider community.”

Singleton said there had been no warning about the attack, and explosives of the type used in Dunmurry could be “extremely volatile”.

“The scale and complexity of the device may not have been as big as we’ve seen in the past. What it lacked in that definitely was made up for in terms of its recklessness, in terms of the construction – it engulfed the vehicle in flames and spread debris over a significant distance, so that in and of itself tells you just how dangerous it is,” he said.

The chair of the Northern Ireland policing board, Brendan Mullan, said the device “was sent to kill officers and cause maximum harm in an attack which was in the heart of a residential area”.

He said: “This is the second incident at a police station in recent weeks, which is depressing. The people have spoken when they overwhelmingly endorsed the Good Friday agreement.”

Liam Kelly, the chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, said the attack had “caused great upset and generated widespread and justifiable revulsion”.

He said: “This doesn’t move the needle towards any particular goal. All it does is show that there are still people who want to murder my colleagues and deliver pain and suffering in our communities.

“These faceless cowards are a throwback to the dark ages of the Troubles. They have no place in the society we are all striving to build – a society free from thuggery and terrorism.”