The man shot and injured in what is believed to have been an attempted hold-up outside Skyparks near the airport this morning is in a critical condition, the police said.

People on the scene said the man was injured, but conscious.

The shooting was carried out by two men wearing balaclavas at about 10.30am.

They stopped a car which was carrying the victim and another man and demanded cash. A shot was then fired through the car's windscreen.

The victim, a 77-year-old man from Qormi who exchanges foreign currency for taxi drivers, had just walked out of the Bank of Valletta branch. He suffered facial injuries and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance.

It is understood that his companion  - 68 of Marsa - resisted the aggressors, who then escaped from the scene in a white Peugeot 207 car. The second man suffered knife injuries. Blood splatters could be seen outside the car.

The car believed to have been used by the robbers.

No cash is believed to have been stolen.

GETAWAY CAR FOUND

At 12.30pm police cars surrounded a white Peugeot car parked in Triq il-Gudja, Luqa with its doors open. One of the passenger windows was smashed. It is believed to have been the getaway car which was abandoned by the thieves. The car was reported stolen on August 7. Items related to the attempted hold-up were found inside.

This was the second such case within a week, with £10,000 having been stolen in a hold-up in Qawra. 

Video by Paul Spiteri Lucas.

[attach id=273887 size="large"]The car's windscreen with a bullet hole on the driver's side.[/attach]

Blood splatters after a man resisted the agressors and suffered knife injuries.