MASKED men tried to rob a woman and her younger brother at gunpoint in a busy street as they left a jeweller’s shop.

Two men wearing balaclavas pounced on the couple outside the Madina jewellery shop in Derby Street.

One of the men tried to pull the handbag from the woman’s grasp while the other pointed a handgun at her.

The woman’s brother managed to snatch the bag from the first attacker, but the second man smashed him over the head with the gun, leaving a deep gash.

After a scuffle, one of the men hit the woman over the head with the gun before they fled empty handed. They jumped into a car, a Ford Escort, before driving off along View Street towards Quebec Street. The incident happened just after 3.30pm on Monday as parents were picking up their children from the nearby Sunning Hill Primary School, and a number of youngsters saw the attack. A witness, who asked not to be named, said: “I was walking down Derby Street, when all of a sudden I heard this scream, and I thought ‘oh my God, a woman’s being mugged’. There were two lads in balaclavas and one of them was playing tug of war with the lady’s handbag, but she was really putting up a fight.

“The other robber was scuffling with the man and he got hit on the head.

“He had a really deep gash on his head and he was bleeding a lot. The worst thing is that noone helped. It was in the afternoon on a busy main road and there were loads of people about but not one man intervened. ”

The attackers are thought to be black and both were wearing dark clothes and masks.

The Bolton News understands that the woman had gone into the jewellery shop to sell a large amount of gold jewellery. The incident is the latest in a series of attacks in Bolton in which victims have been targeted for their Asian jewellery by raiders who appear to have specific knowledge of their targets.

Anyone with information should call police on 0161 872 5050.