Woman and child hurt in pipe bomb blast

A woman and a four-year-old girl needed hospital treatment for cuts and shock after a device was thrown into the living room of a prison officer’s home in North Belfast, police said.

The device, which police said appeared to be a pipe bomb, was thrown through the living room window of the house in Westway Park on the outskirts of the city in the Ballygomartin area last night.

A man was also in the room, but did not appear to sustain any injury.

Police are today trying to trace the movements of a silver Vauxhall car, which was seen in the area moments before the attack.

Detectives said the Cavalier or Astra car contained three or four men.

It drove 40 yards to the junction with Lyndhurst Drive and turned left into the Ballygomartin Road.

The attack was condemned by Prison Officers Federation chairman Finlay Spratt, who described it as ‘‘totally unacceptable’’.

‘‘There must be somebody out there who knows who has carried out this attack,’’ he said.