Couple escape Belfast pipe bomb attack

A young couple escaped injury when a pipe bomb blasted the front of their home in Northern Ireland today.

They were asleep when the device exploded at around 2.20am outside the house in Cheviot Avenue, east Belfast.

The front windows were blown in by the force of the blast, and parts of the bomb were found scattered across the garden and street.

A neighbour also wakened by the explosion found shrapnel lying on her bedroom floor, police said.

Detectives investigating the attack said they were keeping an open mind over a possible motive.

It was not thought to be linked to the ongoing loyalist paramilitary feud in Belfast.