Police were called to the Brass Handles pub in Fitzwarren Street, on the notorious Langworthy estate close to Salford shopping precinct, after gun shots were heard.

They arrived to find the bodies of two men of mixed race about 20 yards apart on playing fields known as The Croft.

Both died where they fell. Two other men, who had also been shot, were taken in a private car to Hope Hospital, Salford, where they were treated overnight for their injuries.

As armed police flooded the area, it emerged that the incident was an escalation of a turf war between gangs vying for supremacy on the Manchester and Salford border.

The shootings were witnessed by young children who had been playing football on the playing fields between the pub and a Lidl supermarket. They were said to have been deeply traumatised.

Witnesses suggested that the incident happened shortly after 2.30pm when two men of mixed race entered the pub during the busy lunchtime period.

They appeared to single out and shoot two white men in the crowded bar before fleeing from the pub and across the playing fields to their getaway car, a black Mondeo, parked some distance away.

At this point a number of people in the pub, obviously armed, gave chase. One of the fleeing men was shot in the back of the head.

The second man stopped and turned to see what had happened and was shot in the side of his body. Then, witnesses suggest, he was shot in the head “execution-style”.

The two bodies remained on the playing fields, covered by a white tarpaulin, as darkness fell.

One father, whose child was playing football on the parkland, said: “The children were having their usual Sunday kickabout when there were two men running from the pub.

“One was shot in the back of the head as he knelt down. The other then turned to see how his friend was and he was shot in the side, and then in the head. Then the men from inside the pub disappeared.

“The children were left in shock. They were utterly terrified. It is terrible that a gang war has spilt out on to the public playing fields.”

Residents, who did not want to be named, suggested that the two gangs from Salford and Manchester were fighting over drugs and protection operations. Meanwhile Greater Manchester Police sealed off surrounding roads. Dozens of officers were deployed in a fingertip search for evidence.

Last night police from the Tactical Aid Unit mounted a highly visible operation on the estate. Officers, who fear a further escalation in the turf war, urged calm and tried to reassure residents. The Langworthy estate is a mix of high-rise flats and terraced housing, many of them boarded up.

Scenes-of-crime officers in white boilersuits could be seen going in and out of the modern two-storey brick pub. A body could be seen covered in a white tarpaulin on a grassy area of wasteground 100 metres from the pub.

A nearby supermarket car park was taken over by police with officers in riot vans standing by.

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