THE PEACEFUL surroundings of a quiet Bradford suburb were shattered during one early autumn day in 2001.

As teenager Yasser Hussain Nazir drove slowly out of a Heaton petrol station he was executed in a terrifying afternoon attack which sent shockwaves through the community.

The 16-year-old was shot in the head twice at close range as he drove his white Vauxhall Astra car out of the forecourt in Haworth Road, Heaton, on September 5, 2001.

An E-registered green Honda Accord pulled up alongside and a masked gunman was seen leaping out and firing two shots with a long-barrelled shotgun into the Astra.

The mortally wounded teenager was able to drive no more than 100 yards before slumping dead at the wheel.

Confusion immediately took hold and residents spoke about mistaking the gunshots for a car backfiring. Few believed that a gunman could have shot a boy dead in cold blood.

Armed police were on the scene within minutes of the shooting.

Yasser, of Chatsworth Street, Keighley, had been driving two passengers - aged 17 and 22-years-old - to an identity parade at a Bradford police station in connection with trouble at the Keighley Gala earlier that summer.

Officers found the Honda burned-out just before midnight on the same day, but police were unable to trace the whereabouts of the car in the three weeks leading up to the shooting.

In the months after his murder, police interviewed 300 people.

Fifteen were arrested and questioned about the murder but nobody was ever charged.

An inquest into Yasser's death was held in 2008 and it was revealed that despite people being questioned by detectives, they were still too frightened to reveal the identities of the murderers.

Giving evidence to the inquest Detective Constable Jacqui Starkey, who works in the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team of West Yorkshire Police, said it was thought the murder happened after a series of tit-for-tat attacks between rival gangs in Keighley.

It was believed Yasser had been killed as revenge for the shooting of a senior gang member a month before.

She said: "It became clear due to intelligence gathering into the group that the motive for the murder was in response to the injury of a senior member of the rival group. Intelligence was vague from the community, people were reluctant to speak for fear of reprisals."

A Force spokesperson said: "West Yorkshire Police has a dedicated team of detectives who carry out reviews of these investigations in line with new evidence coming to light or advances in forensic technology. 

If you have information which may assist, then please contact the Major Investigation Review Team on 101 or by using the contact options on the West Yorkshire Police website. 

Information can also be reported anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.