A man had to 'crawl for help' following a serious Co Antrim assault.
Police said the man in his 20s was set upon by "three masked men with baseball bats in an alleyway" near Churchill Road, Larne.
He suffered injuries to his ankles and arm in the incident around 9.25pm last night.
Officers took the man to hospital and are now appealing for witnesses and information.
The perpetrators are described as wearing dark-coloured clothing.
Detective Sergeant Crothers said: "This was a vicious beating which the victim sustained. There is absolutely no justification for this type of savage attack.
"We are working to establish a motive for this, and would appeal to anyone who may have been in the area, or anyone who has information about this incident, to call detectives on 101, quoting reference number 2147 of 15/06/20.
"You can also submit a report online using our non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/.
"Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/."
