A MUM and her son were both shot in the leg in a shooting which police say could be linked to the gun violence in Farnworth and Little Hulton over the weekend.

Armed police swooped on Gillingham Road, Eccles, just after 9.25pm yesterday following a report that a woman and a young boy had been shot at in the doorway of an address.

They were taken to hospital for treatment to gunshot injuries to the leg.

Their injuries are not believed to be life threatening.

A police spokesman said: "At this stage, it is not yet known if this is linked to other shootings which have taken place over the past few days in the Salford and Bolton areas."

Detective Superintendent Joanne Rawlinson added: "This is a truly shocking set of circumstances in which a young boy and a woman have been injured after they were shot at by a gunman at their home.

"This incident has only just happened, but there is a huge police effort underway to investigate this attack and find those responsible.

"At this early stage, we do not yet know the motive behind this incident, but I would ask the community, as upset as they may be when they hear news of this attack, to please let the police carry out this investigation.

"If you have information about who may be involved in this shooting tonight, then please call us on 0161 856 5345 and tell us what you know, so we can arrest those responsible as soon as possible."

The shootings followed four separate attacks over the weekend in Deane, Farnworth and Little Hulton.

Police said rival gangs locked in an underworld dispute were behind the spate of firearm-fuelled violence — but said the Deane shooting was unrelated.

The wave of gun violence began just after midnight on Saturday when a 48-year-old man was hit in the back by a bullet that came through the window of a house in Mossbrook Street, Little Hulton.

Later that evening shots were fired at the windows of homes in Worsley Road, Farnworth, and Gorse Drive, Little Hulton — two streets away from Mossbrook Street — although no-one was injured.

A 22-year-old was also shot in the stomach in Cannon Street close Bolton Council of Mosques and the Stonechurch flats.

Anyone with information should call police on 0161 856 5470 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.