TWO teenage girls fought off suspected sex fiends who tried to abduct them in an alleyway in Little Lever.

Parents and children have been urged to be on their guard after the two men tried to grab the 15-year-old girls as they were walking home from a friend's house last night.

Detectives say the two friends were approached by the men as they took a short cut home through a ginnel connecting Arthur Street to Victory Road.

The girls spotted the men standing on Arthur Street and continued to walk through the ginnel but, when they were half-way through, the men started to run and grabbed hold of both schoolgirls.

The men tried to pull the girls towards Arthur Street, where a silver car was parked.

But the girls fought back and both fell to the ground during a brief struggle. The men then fled, leaving the girls extremely shaken but uninjured apart from minor cuts and bruises.

The men ran to the silver car and drove away. A search for the car has been mounted.

The girls ran to a nearby house where the owners called the police.

As the incident was being investigated today, a police spokesman warned parents to urge their children to be "vigilant".

The spokesman said: "This was a terrifying incident for these two girls who were walking home after spending some time with a friend.

"We would urge people in the Bolton area to be extra vigilant and report anything suspicious to police."

The car the two attackers escaped in is described as having a long, sloping boot, resembling an old-style Ford Escort.

The men are described as white. One is believed to have been wearing a red and black Helly Hansen jacket, and has shaven hair.

The second man is described as being clean shaven with his hair in a ponytail.

The girls were being comforted at home by their families today.

Anyone who witnessed the incident is asked to contact Astley Bridge CID on 0161 856 5740, or Crimestoppers on free phone 0800 555 111.