Three men have been arrested on suspicion of assault after a paintball shooting spree across Greater Manchester over the weekend.

Detectives are investigating eight separate attacks, which left one man in hospital with severe bruising after being shot in the face. Police said he was lucky not to lose his left eye. A woman was also shot after being called a "slag" by her attackers as they drove by.

The unprovoked attacks began at around 6:30pm on Saturday night, when police were called to Powell Street, Bury, after men in a dark-coloured Vauxhall were seen firing paintballs at a house.

The next attack took place between 11:15pm and 11:45pm on Bury New Road in Prestwich in north Manchester, when two cars, a dark Vauxhall and a grey or silver Range Rover, drove past before men opened fire, hitting the victim with orange paint. There were then two further attacks on Bury New Road between these times, in Prestwich and Whitefield. On both occasions orange paintballs were fired from the car, before driving away.

The offenders then struck in the student area of Fallowfield in south central Manchester, with the first of two attacks in the area occurring at 12.20am on Sunday morning on Wilbraham Road near to the junction of Yew Tree Road.

The victim was shot four times, sustaining bruises to his back and chest, and saw the same two cars driving off in tandem.

The second attack in Fallowfield took place on Mosley Road near the Armitage Centre at around 1.45am on Sunday, where a woman was shot and called a "slag" by the offenders.

The seventh victim was targeted on Kingsway at the junction with Green End at 2am on Sunday, when the two cars pulled over to the curb and shot a man in the face.

He was taken to hospital and was treated for severe swelling and bruising to his left eye.

The final attack took place in Heaton Moor, Stockport, just before 3am, when a man was shot several times by the occupants of the Vauxhall before being told, “I hope that hurt”, by a man in the Range Rover as the two cars drove off towards Shaw Road.

A 20-year-old man has been arrested and bailed until 19 May and a further two men, aged 22 and 20, have also been arrested on suspicion of assault. They remained in custody for questioning on Tuesday afternoon.

Detective sergeant Iqbal Ahmed of Greater Manchester Police said: "This may have been treated like a bit of fun for the men who perpetrated this string of attacks, but we are treating these incidents extremely seriously.

"This was a high powered weapon used by the men to inflict pain on innocent passers-by and one of the victims was frankly very lucky not to lose an eye after being shot in the face.

"The fact that these men then verbally abused some of their victims further demonstrates their callous nature and we are appealing anyone who might have witnessed the attacks or might have been a victim themselves and not reported it, to come forward so we can bring the men responsible to justice."

Anyone with information should call police on 0161 856 8292 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.