A 10-year-old schoolboy died from injuries apparently inflicted with his father's own airgun while playing an innocent game of Cowboys and Indians, it has been claimed.

The boy, named locally as Rhys Johnson, was taken to hospital on Sunday evening after the incident in Swansea, South Wales, but died within hours despite undergoing an emergency operation. Shocked neighbour, Sonia Hixson, 76, said that she believed the schoolboy had apparently been shot twice.

South Wales police officers re-main on the scene at Midland Place, Llansamlet, after they were called to the boy's family home at 6.15 on Sunday. An area in a lane at the rear of the property also remains taped off following the tragic incident. Police refused to comment yesterday on local speculation surrounding the number of shots fired and the precise type of weapon used. They continue to describe the schoolboy's injury has having been inflicted by "an air weapon".