The RUC has said they were treating as attempted murder a pipe bomb attack on the home of an SDLP member of Derry City Council.
Cllr Gerry Diver and his Canadian born wife Alice, as well as their four children Ellen (12), John (10), Celie (6) and Eva (5), escaped injury when a pipe bomb packed with four-inch nails exploded at the front door of their Sutton Gardens home in a mixed area at Kilfennan in the Waterside area of the city.
Chief Insp George Brian said he believed the attack, which caused considerable structural damage to the Diver's home, was carried out by loyalist paramilitaries.
"Given the size and make-up of this pipe bomb, it was not designed to frighten, it was designed to kill," he told reporters.
"It was quite a size and we could quite easily have been talking about a multiple murder.
"The people who did this, for whatever grotesque reasons, knew the Diver family was at home and knew that the risk of serious injury or death was high. Our investigations are into an attempted murder," he said.
Cllr Diver said the midnight attack had deeply traumatised his family.
"Alice and me were watching the television when I heard a thud coming from the front door. I opened the living room door and went to investigate when suddenly Alice pulled me back. As she did so the bomb went off showering the hallway with shrapnel, nails and splinters.
"This attack certainly won't force me out of politics but Alice and me will now have to decide if we're staying in our family home or leaving.
"It's a decision we have to take not just for ourselves but for our children," said Cllr Diver.