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This is the terrifying moment a violent drug kingpin was attacked by knife-wielding hitmen in broad daylight surrounded by terrified tourists.

Heroin baron Sean “Lugs” McGovern was ambushed in Edinburgh just yards from the the five-star Balmoral Hotel.

He was knifed in the back of the head by two men - disguised as joggers in baseball caps and sunglasses - who jumped him as he stepped out of a £42,000 motor.

After trying to chase the hitmen , one of which appeared to be armed with a blade, he then slumped to the ground, ashen-faced and clearly in shock.

The revenge attack, which lasted just seconds and was apparently carefully planned, left his grey hoodie stained red with blood.

McGovern was later helped into an ambulance with his head, neck and left hand bandaged.

A gangland source told the Daily Record : “This will have repercussions in the underworld. McGovern is not someone to mess with lightly.”

Dozens of shoppers and tourists saw the violence in Waterloo Place. Tour buses were picking up and dropping off holidaymakers nearby.

McGovern was slashed at 12.30pm as he prepared to board a G4S bus to return to Castle Huntly open jail after home leave.

He was jailed for almost 17 years in 2009 for dealing heroin in the capital – and for firing a shotgun at a pub in a warning to a rival.

McGovern arrived in Waterloo Place in a £42,000 Mercedes driven by a woman. It parked behind the prison bus.

A witness said: “The man got out of the car and looked around for a few seconds, then opened the back passenger door and leaned inside as if he was picking something up.

“Two men in running clothes ran over and one of them leaned inside the car. There seemed to be a struggle in the back.

“Then the two men sprinted off down the middle of the street at full pelt. The man ran after them, shouting.

“Blood was running down his face and body. His T-shirt was soaked with it. It looked like he’d been stabbed in the neck or the back of his head.

“A woman got out of the Mercedes and started shouting, ‘You b******s!’ She was screaming hysterically.

“Everyone on the street seemed frozen. No one could believe what they were seeing.”

The attackers ran a short distance to a white Skoda Rapid driven by an accomplice. It then raced away – but only after the pair struggled to get in.

Another witness said: “The car was being driven along about 200 yards from the Mercedes. It slowed a bit but the men were running alongside with their hands on the door handles, trying frantically to open them.

“One of them was shouting in a Scottish accent, “Let us in the f****** car!

“After a few seconds, they managed to get the doors open and the car sped off.

“The driver had a scarf covering the bottom of his face.”

The attackers wore baseball caps and sunglasses. One could clearly be seen carrying a knife as they ran to the getaway car, which drove off east along Waterloo Place.

McGovern walked back to the Mercedes after chasing the attackers. Members of the public hurried to help him as he held a grey top to his head to try to stem the blood.

He paced around, agitated, as people tried to tend to him.

Then he slumped down against a wall, his face white. He sat saying little, looking tired and grimacing in pain.

Police quickly arrived in force in three cars and two vans and cordoned off the scene. Uniformed officers directed the traffic and detectives began speaking to witnesses.

An ambulance drew up at about 12.45. Paramedics treated McGovern on the pavement then brought a fold-up chair out of the ambulance to lift him inside. But he was able to walk into the vehicle with help.

Our underworld source said the attackers clearly knew when McGovern would arrive to catch the bus back to jail.

They added: “They obviously targeted him when he was out because it’s hard to find someone to carry out a hit in Castle Huntly.

“The inmates are near the end of their sentences and won’t risk jeopardising their release. McGovern is a hard man and he’s respected in jail. He’s had little bother.”

Police appealed for witnesses to the attack. Detective Sergeant Neil Spowart of Gayfield CID said: “This part of the city centre, just past the east end of Princes Street, was very busy at lunchtime with shoppers and visitors.

“I want to speak to anyone who was in the area and may have seen the assault, or the two men beforehand or afterwards.”

The Scottish Prison Service said they could not discuss individual inmates.

McGovern is behind bars after firing two rounds from a shotgun outside the Gauntlet Bar in Broomhouse, Edinburgh, in 2008.

It was a warning to rival Jamie Hyland, a regular at the pub. McGovern got six years and nine months for the gun attack and 10 years for running a heroin empire in Edinburgh.

Judge Lord Turnbull told him at the sentencing hearing: “You were at the head of a very profitable and large-scale enterprise.”