Greater Manchester Police today stepped up patrols after two men were killed and five people injured - two in Horwich -in four separate shooting incidents.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Green warned that gun crime will not be tolerated and pledged to catch those responsible.

He said: "The public should be reassured that we will not tolerate such criminal behaviour and will take action.

"We immediately responded to the incidents and have increased high visibility patrols in key locations."

On Friday, McMurray Chinado Iheagwara was shot dead in Bettwood Drive, Crumpsall, Manchester. The 40-year-old suffered horrific head injuries and was pronounced dead on arrival at North Manchester Hospital.

On Saturday night two men were injured in a shooting incident in the city's Moss Side area. The pair are in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

Yesterday a 25-year-old man and his 20-year-old girlfriend were injured when a gunman shot through the couple's window at their home in Horwich.

The couple's two-year-old daughter was in the ground floor flat in St Bride's Close with them when the man began firing randomly with a handgun.

He is believed to have knocked on the window before shooting blindly from the front garden through the closed curtains.

At least four shots were fired at about 7.15pm last night.

The 25-year-old man was hit three times in the groin and the woman, aged 20, was shot in the shoulder.

They were both taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital.

The injured man is being kept in for observation and his girlfriend was due to undergo surgery later today.

Police are still hunting the gunman, who was wearing a pale grey hooded top and the weapon he used.

Detectives will interview the couple in the next few days but the motive is not yet known.

The Armed Response Unit were sent to the scene after receiving reports of a shooting incident and the area was sealed off. The woman had recently moved back to her parents' home in Winsford, Cheshire. She had returned to the flat to pick up some belongings.

Her boyfriend was also due to move out this week.

Shocked neighbours were stunned. One said: "We can't believe something like this has happened here.

"I don't really know the couple so I don't know why someone would want to shoot at their house."

And at 1am today Stephen Baba-Tunde Amos, 21, of Longsight, Greater Manchester, died after he was shot outside Bexx Bar in Ashton-under-Lyne.

A second man in his twenties was also injured in the incident and is in a serious condition in hospital.

Mr Green said: "Greater Manchester Police faced exceptional circumstances during the weekend.

"We are following a number of lines of inquiry and have dedicated substantial resources to these investigations.

"It is vital that the public act as our eyes and ears and come forward with information to bring those responsible to justice.

"Greater Manchester Police has a proven track record of successfully investigating armed crime."

A spokeswoman said the shootings were not being linked.