Three held in relation to gun attack

Three people were arrested today in connection with a gun attack on a Belfast house which left a 12-year-old girl and a middle-aged woman in hospital being treated for shock.

The trio, a man aged 20, together with a 19-year-old and a 17-year-old were being questioned about the attack in the Suffolk Road area in the west of the city last night.

It was alleged a black Audi pulled up outside the house and one of a number of male occupants got out and fired shots from a shotgun at the living room window before jumping back in the car which sped off.

A Police Service of Northern Ireland spokeswoman said a 60-year-man, 55-year-old woman and the girl had been uninjured in the attack.

However the two females needed hospital treatment for severe shock.

The Audi was found burned out a short distance away in the Glenside Road area soon afterwards.

Police investigating a motive for the attack appealed for anyone who saw the shooting or saw the car being abandoned and torched to contact them.

The men arrested were being held at the PSNI Serious Crime Suite in Antrim.