Police are hunting a shooter who has injured three people, including two teenage girls, in Bradford.

A 20-year-old man needed hospital treatment to have an airgun pellet removed from his hand following one of the attacks.

All three incidents have occurred in the Killinghall Road area and police believe the attacks to be connected.

The man was shot between 2pm and 2.30pm on Monday near Killinghall Fisheries.

The shop’s manager, Azad Rafiq, said he had picked up pellets from the street outside the shop every day since Sunday last week.

“I think someone is shooting from a house somewhere on the opposite side of the street,” he said. “We’ve had customers complaining about the noise of the pellets hitting the ground outside the shop.

“They seem to be targeting kids who hang around outside the shop.”

At about 1.45pm on Monday, a 14-year-old girl was struck on the back of her thigh by a pellet, although her injuries did not require hospital treatment.

The shooting is thought to have happened near the 2001 Video Library on Killinghall Road, but a member of staff working there, who did not want to be named, said yesterday: “I haven’t heard anything about an incident on Monday, but I am shocked to find it happening here.

“For someone to be shot in broad daylight is ridiculous.”

The third attack took place last Thursday, when a 13 year-old girl was hit on the arm as she walked along Killinghall Road at about 7.15pm.

That attack happened close to Undercliffe Fisheries, but its manager said he had not been made aware of the shooting.

“Something similar did happen about six months ago, but we were closed at the time and I was only told about it by neighbours,” he said. “It’s not something we’ve ever seen from the shop.”

Police have increased patrols in the area to offer reassurance and put out an appeal for anyone with information to contact them as soon as possible.

Sergeant Jon Best, of the Bradford East Area Neighbourhood Team, said: “We are concerned about these incidents and are keen to find out who is responsible for them.

“Discharging an air weapon at a person is highly dangerous and could cause serious injuries.

“It is also a criminal offence, and we will take action against anyone found to be using a firearm in this manner.”

Anyone with any information on the shootings is asked to call police on 101, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.