Masked man sought after teenager shot five times

LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) Police are searching for a masked gunman who shot a 15-year-old boy five times during a late night attack in Manchester over the weekend.

The victim, and another teenage boy who was shot once, were in a stable condition in hospital today, police said.

They had been with a group of youths in the Ardwick Green area of the city shortly before midnight on Saturday when a silver car with four or five men inside pulled up beside them.

''One of the men got out of the car and fired shots towards the group,'' a Greater Manchester Police spokeswoman said.

The 15-year-old local boy was hit in the chest, back, groin, buttock and thigh. A 13-year-old boy from nearby Longsight suffered a bullet wound to his left leg.

Police said the gunman was around six foot tall, of muscular build, and was wearing dark clothing and a balaclava.

''The early indications are this is not a random attack,'' Superintendent Gerry McGowan told reporters.

''However what we cannot say is whether the two young men who received bullet wounds were the intended victims of the attack.'' Gun crime has been on the rise in Britain in recent years, often blamed on drug disputes.

Recent high-profile incidents include the killing of female police officer, Sharon Beshenivsky, following an armed robbery in Bradford last November, while in Nottingham in 2004 Danielle Beccan, 14, was gunned down in an apparently motiveless attack.

The government has introduced tougher sentences for anyone caught in possession of a firearm although campaigners have called for more to be done.

REUTERS KD ND1502