Pipe bomb attack on family in Co Antrim

A couple and a three-year-old boy escaped injury in a pipe bomb attack in Northern Ireland.

Pieces of steel blasted into the living room of a house in Ballymoney, Co Antrim, in an explosion police said could have proved fatal.

The device detonated on the windowsill of the property at Carnany Drive at around 2am. Although the family inside were unhurt, damage was also caused to the house and a car parked in the driveway.

British army explosives experts were called in and the area was sealed off. Investigating detectives said they are treating the attack as attempted murder.

Loyalist paramilitaries are suspected of carrying out the bombing.