TWO sex beasts were being hunted today after a schoolgirl was attacked and threatened with a gun as she walked home in the early hours.

The 15-year-old was raped and indecently assaulted in a secluded lay-by after she got into a car with the men between 2am and 4am.

The attack began after the girl was approached in Halifax Road, Briercliffe, last Monday, April 15.

Officers have only just released details because they were inquiring into "other issues" surrounding the case.

Today Detective Constable Derek Jones said: "She was left very shaken by the ordeal and we are keen to hear from anybody who may have seen anything or knows anything about the incident.

"These people have most probably told somebody about what they have done and we need to hear from them."

Police said the girl's ordeal began when she was approached by two men in a red vehicle as she walked home.

They said the car pulled up alongside her and one of the men asked her if she wanted a lift. They said the girl got into the back of the car and was driven to a secluded layby on the moors between Burnley and Pendle.

Detectives said both men got out of the car but one got back in and forced the girl to lie across the back seat while he raped her.

He then dressed and left the vehicle while the second man got in the car with the girl and indecently assaulted her before getting out and speaking to the other man.

Police said the first man then went back to the car and threatened the girl with a gun. When she started crying the men told her they would take her back to where they found her.

She was then driven to Nelson town centre where they left her. The girl immediately phoned the police from a nearby telephone box.

Police are examining CCTV footage and are still trying to identify the scene of the attack.

Police have issued descriptions of the two men.

The first is Asian, 24, tall and skinny with a bristle type beard and moustache.

He had a long face, droopy eyes and was wearing a woolly hat, black trousers, a black round necked jumper and a white, waist-length coat, possibly leather.

The second man is also Asian, 25, fat, with short, slightly wavy black hair and was wearing black trousers.

The car was a two door red "bubble" type vehicle, possibly F-registered and untidy with newspapers in the rear footwell.

Anybody with any information about the incident should contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or Burnley CID on 01282 472144.