DETECTIVES today revealed that the armed robbers who carried out a petrol station raid in Rising Bridge could be behind a string of other raids across East Lancashire.

Police in Rossendale are working with detectives throughout the region after similar incidents occurred at the Abbey National bank in Rawtenstall, the HSBC bank in Blackburn and a petrol station in Bury.

Detective Inspector Stuart Barlow said: "We are liaising with officers in other divisions to compare similar incidents.

"In particular there are strong links between the Abbey National incident and a similar offence in Bury earlier this month.

"I have been working with DI Simon Giles in Blackburn about the HSBC incident and we are certainly looking at possible links."

In the Rising Bridge raid on Wednesday night, a security guard was attacked during an armed robbery at the Shell petrol station.

Three men brandishing automatic handguns held up a Securicor van outside the Blackburn Road garage.

Detectives are now reviewing the forecourt's CCTV along with images from cameras at the nearby McDonalds drive-through, the Little Chef restaurant and speed cameras along the M66.

Police said a sum of cash was stolen after one of the robbers used a gun to beat the guard around the face, head and neck while demanding money.

After grabbing cash from the guard the gang, all thought to be Asian, then escaped in a silver car - thought to be either a Saab or Subaru Impreza with three-spoke wheels.

A silver Peugeot 306 abandoned at the scene had been stolen earlier from the Alderley Edge area of Cheshire.