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Man arrested after family targeted in arson attack at west Belfast home

The front door of the house in St Gall's Avenue was badly scorched after being targeted in an arson attack. Picture by Bill Smyth
The front door of the house in St Gall's Avenue was badly scorched after being targeted in an arson attack. Picture by Bill Smyth The front door of the house in St Gall's Avenue was badly scorched after being targeted in an arson attack. Picture by Bill Smyth

A 21-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested after a family, including six children, escaped injury when their home was targeted in an arson attack in west Belfast.

The fire at the house, at St Gall's Avenue in the Clonard area, was extinguished before it took hold.

A canister containing a flammable substance was set on fire at the front door of the property around 8.40pm on Tuesday, leaving the door badly scorched.

Police said the house attacked was not the same property where a crude explosive device was left in a gas box last month, and that there was no link between the two attacks, which occurred in the same street.

The device left in the gas box on September 15 came five days after a man was beaten with a hammer and a woman punched in the face by a man who called at another house in the street.

The 21-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life in connection to Tuesday's fire, and on suspicion of aggravated burglary following an incident at the same property on Sunday evening.

Police have appealed for anyone with information to contact officers on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.