A woman has been viciously assaulted during an attempted robbery at her home in Newry, Co Down.
She suffered fractured ribs and a fractured cheekbone when she was kicked and beaten by intruders last night.
Two masked men, one armed with a handgun and the other with an iron bar, confronted the woman (42) at the front door of her Parkhead Crescent home demanding she hand over cash and jewellery.
They then forced the woman, who was alone, into the house and attacked her.
One of the men kicked her twice and hit her in the face with the gun while the other beat her over the back with the iron bar, said a PSNI spokesman."This was a brutal and cowardly attack by two large men".
The men, both said to be over six feet tall and of stocky build, made off empty-handed in a car after ransacking the house.