Girl, 5, hurt in firework attack
EXPLOSIVE IS HURLED THROUGH WINDOW
A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl was badly burned after a display firework was thrown through her kitchen window and exploded in the middle of a family get-together.
Little Sayeeda Rizwan’s mother, Azmat, feared she would ‘never see her children again’ as the 18-shot device went off with a series of bangs, filling the room with sparks and smoke.
The girl suffered an agonising injury to her foot after one of the shots burned through her shoe.
The attackers broke the window with a brick before hurling the firework through it at 7.30pm on Wednesday.
Now the family are offering a £5,000 reward for anyone who can reveal who the attackers were. They are also appealing for fireworks businesses who have recently sold a commercial 18-shot firework to contact the police. The family believe it was a targeted attack.
Azmat’s five children, aged nine to one, were in the house at the time, alongside her mother-inlaw, father-in-law, husband, sisterin-law and her two children, aged six and seven. The adults managed to get outside, but the children hid behind curtains and could not be found until Azmat’s husband, Mohammed, ran back in.
Sayeeda was left crying in pain on the floor as blasts went off around her before she was carried to safety by her father.
All the family managed to get outside to safety, and firefighters arrived to extinguish the blaze.
Sayeeda is back home after treatment at A&E for a severe burn, but will need further treatment at the burns clinic.
Azmat, who lives in Longsight, said: “I was screaming. I thought I’d lost my kids. I thought I would never see my children again.
“The fireworks were going off and I didn’t know where the kids were. You couldn’t see anything due to the smoke.
“I think they must have seen the cars outside. They knew it was a full house to target us as this time. It is disgusting. My kids are not sleeping, they are deadly frightened.”
Greater Manchester Police were called to the scene and an investigation into the attack has launched.
It has been established two men were seen climbing into the back garden of the house but no further description of them is available.
Any witnesses or anyone with further information can call Greater Manchester Police on 101, quoting reference 1981/November 15.