Three terrified girls fled screaming after a man fired an air rifle at them.

Thirteen-year-old Cheryl Thompson was struck a glancing blow in her left leg by one pellet as she played with two friends in Judy Woods, Woodside, at about 2pm on Saturday.

A man who had been firing the gun at bottles in the woods with a gang of friends shot several more times at them as they escaped.

Cheryl was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary for treatment and was told by doctors she was lucky not to have suffered serious injury from the pellet, which did not lodge in her leg.

Police said today investigations were continuing into the attack and appealed for information.

Cheryl said she and her friends had been very frightened.

One of her friends had spoken to the men to ask them the time but a few minutes later one of the men in his 40s fired at them.

She had been hit in the leg and he fired another pellet at her friend which missed.

"We ran to hide behind this tree and one of them shouted, 'Come on' and they started chasing us and firing the gun," she said.

They ran through a stream and up a steep bank to escape the six-strong gang before going straight home.

Her mother Nicola said her daughter had suffered a glancing blow from the pellet which caused three cuts.

She had been X-rayed as a precaution to make sure there were no fragments in the leg.

"It was lucky the bullet didn't go into her leg," she said.

"It really isn't on. These weren't kids with this air rifle, they were men.

"They weren't in the line of these bottles - it was deliberate.

"They were absolutely terrified and were white as sheets when they got back.

"I don't know what the world is coming to."

Anyone with information can contact Odsal police on (01274) 376628.

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