A five-year-old boy from Shaw has been kidnapped by armed robbers while on holiday in Pakistan.

Sahil Saeed was snatched and is being held to ransom after a terrifying raid in the Punjab region, where he was visiting his ill grandmother with his dad.

Four robbers, armed with guns and hand grenades, have demanded £100,000 from his father, Naqqash Saeed, for the little boy's safe return.

They originally issued a deadline of 9am, British time, on Thursday.

As the Observer went to press on Friday police were questioning several men in connection with the kidnapping, including one they described as the ‘prime suspect’, and said they were very confident Sahil would be released soon.

Pakistani police investigator Raja Tahir Bashir told the BBC: "God willing, we will recover the boy very soon.

"We are doing whatever is possible."

Mr Saeed had been due to fly home on Thursday with Sahil - who speaks no Punjabi.

Instead he is waiting at the family home in the Punjab waiting for a phone call from the gang with instructions.

Sahil's devastated mother, Akila Naqqash, is being comforted at the family's terraced home in Queen Street.

She wept as she told how she had been woken in the early hours with the horrific news after Mr Saeed called his brother in Oldham.

The mother-of-three, who also has two daughters, Anisha, aged four, and Hafsah, aged 21 months, said: "Apparently Naqqash was hysterical when he rang - saying this gang of masked armed men had burst in and taken Sahil.

"I just want my son back.

"We just don't know what has happened or why they have taken Sahil. He is just a little boy. Why did they take him?

"Now all we can do is sit and wait and pray for him to come back safely.

"I am just so scared for him. He doesn't even speak a word of Punjabi.

"I am so worried for him."

Akila , aged 31, said Sahil had been having a fantastic holiday and she spoke to him on Tuesday.

"He was so happy to be there but he said to me - I can't wait to have a jacket potato as I'm sick of chapattis!"

She said Sahil, a pupil at Rushcroft Primary School, is devoted to his little sisters and was looking forward to seeing them again.

She added: "He is a really sweet boy who gets on with everyone. He is so smiley and happy and bubbly.

"We just don't know what to do."

Mr Saeed told his brother that the robbers had broken into the family home in a small village in Jhelum in the Punjab region, and subjected them to a six-hour ordeal in which they were held hostage at gunpoint, beaten, slapped and kicked.

He said they demanded money and jewellery and unhappy with what the family could hand over, took the boy, telling him that if he did not provide cash the child's safety could not be guaranteed.

Mr Saeed said: "I told them I don't have that much money and after that they took my son. They were fully loaded with guns and hand grenades."

The kidnappers are reported to have broken in to the home at 11pm local time on Wednesday and held the family at gunpoint through the night before leaving with Sahil.

Jane Sheridan, headteacher of Rushcroft Primary School said: "Rushcroft is a very close-knit and friendly school community and Sahil and his family are very much in all our thoughts.

"I have informed the children, staff and governors about the situation today and clearly they are all very worried.

"Everyone at the school is deeply concerned about Sahil's welfare and we are doing all we can to support his family during this extremely difficult time."

Authorities in Pakistan are investigating the snatch.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are providing consular assistance and we have spoken with the father and the police."