A family were held at gunpoint in their Belfast home for almost two hours on Tuesday night in what is now suspected to have been a paramilitary murder attempt.
Five children were in the house on the Upper Crumlin Road when three armed and masked men forced their way in at around 10.30 p.m. The men left at midnight, taking the family car. It was abandoned in the nationalist Ligoniel estate.
An RUC spokesman said the force suspects the target was a Protestant man living in the area. It is understood he is a leading figure in a loyalist paramilitary grouping.
Meanwhile, men from the Shankill area are being questioned in relation to "serious crime". It is believed the men are being questioned about a recent shooting outside a bookmakers in the Ardoyne and a gun attack on a Catholic community worker in the Shankill area.