Police treating house fire and 'explosion' as arson following night of carnage in which three other properties targeted

Police investigating a house fire and possible 'explosion' at a house in Bury are treating it as arson - as they linked a spate of attacks during the same night.

Officers were first called at 8.40pm on Monday 14 August to reports of damage to a vehicle and smashed windows at a house on Parkhills Road. Around five minutes later, they received another call to a 'suspected arson attack' on the same street.

Fire crews descended on the area, after what a local councillor described as a 'small explosion.' Coun Tamoor Tariq said he believed the incident was 'targeted.'

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Later that evening, at 9.10pm, officers were deployed to a property on nearby Clifton Street to reports of four men smashing a window of a property.

At around 2.55am on Tuesday 15 August, police were then called to reports of someone throwing a brick at a house on Chesham Road, before a fire was also started at the property.

Nobody was injured during the attacks, and police say they are still hunting the culprits.

In an update today (August 17), Greater Manchester Police confirmed they are treating all of the attacks as targeted and linked. Detectives are now appealing to the public for help to identify those responsible.

DI Kenny Blain from Bury CID said: "At this point in the investigation, we believe that all of these attacks are targeted and linked.

"We will not tolerate Bury being targeted and we want to reassure the community that we are taking every step to ensure that the perpetrators are apprehended and arrested for these crimes.

"To aid our investigation, we are asking for anyone who may have witnessed these incidents or have doorbell, dashcam or CCTV footage in or