Two teenage boys stabbed ... it's just another day of gang warfare in Peckham

The boys, both 18, were attacked within half an hour in south-east London in what are believed to be tit-for-tat knifings.

The first attack happened in a fast-food restaurant in Rye Lane, Peckham, at 5pm on Monday.

Thirty minutes later, a second boy was stabbed in front of a group of children as he made his way to a friend's house on the North Peckham estate - where schoolboy Damilola Taylor was fatally stabbed in November 2000.

Witnesses described how a gang of 10 masked teenagers rushed into Morleys Chicken in Rye Lane to assault three rivals in a planned attack.

Terrified diners fled in terror as the thugs, believed to be part of an Old Kent Road gang, stormed the building wearing bandannas, dark sunglasses and baseball caps. One worker, who asked not to be named, said the victim was pinned down while he was stabbed. He said: "He had come in with friends and was sitting on a table waiting for food when about 10 of them rushed in and attacked them.

They were all younger than 20. They were fighting and kicking, then one got him round the neck and another came in and stabbed him in the side. Then they all disappeared on bicycles. It was obviously planned.

"The guy was bleeding and stumbled outside and fell in the road. One customer helped him and tied his jacket around him.

"A girl who was in the shop seemed to know them - she said they were an Old Kent Road gang. Things like this happen all the time."

Barely 30 minutes later, a second 18-year-old was knifed by two men who pulled up in a car on the North Peckham estate.

Children as young as seven who were playing outside saw the injured victim stumbling and holding his chest following the daylight attack.

Lennox Jackson, 52, who lives on the estate, said his son had seen the violence.

"They drove up in a car, a Renault Laguna, and parked further down the street," Mr Jackson said.

"The kids were playing football outside. My son saw him holding his chest. Then all the police turned up."

Another witness told how the boy was taken into his friend's house for treatment before being taken to hospital.

She said: "I heard screaming. I came outside and he was sitting up on the wall as the paramedics were trying to help him. All the neighbours came out."

Residents said the attack could have been retribution for the earlier incident.

Both teenagers were last night in a stable condition in hospital.

Police were today searching for a 16-year-old believed to be responsible for the first stabbing.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said officers were keeping an open mind as to the motives of the stabbing but said they were examining the possibility they were gang-related.