The car of DUP Assembly member Ian McCrea was burned outside his home at Cookstown, Co Tyrone, early this morning.
The incident has been condemned by the MP for the area, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness who is also Northern Ireland's deputy first minister.
The arson attack took place at around 3am close to the family home where Mr McCrea and his wife and three children were sleeping.
Last week Mr McCrea was at the centre of controversy, when he used Twitter to state he hoped neither Tyrone nor Derry would win any Ulster GAA competitions and so avoid the possibility of publicly-funded receptions.
Mr McCrea did not link the arson incident to the GAA controversy but he said opposition to his political life should not prompt attacks that put his family at risk.
36-year-old Mr McCrea is the son of Willie McCrea senior, a DUP Westminster MP.
As well as being an Assembly member for Mid Ulster, he is also a member of Northern Ireland's Policing Board.
