GUNMEN yesterday afternoon shot up a public passenger bus travelling along Slipe Road injuring three students from Kingston high schools in a brazen display of brutality that left commuters shocked and worried.

"At about 3:00 pm two gunmen opened fire on the bus as it reached close to the Torrington Bridge after the driver failed to follow their orders to stop," Inspector Steve Brown of the Constabulary Communication Network told the Observer.

The students, two girls and a boy, were hit during the attack and rushed to hospital. Police said their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.Cops said they believed the attack stemmed from an altercation between a group of men in sections of Half-Way-Tree earlier in the day.

"It appeared that men who were injured in that incident had organised the attack," Brown said at the Cross Roads Police Station as his colleagues searched the bullet-riddled bus which was travelling from downtown when the attack occurred.

*lo** spots, apparently from the injured students, stained the sidewalk in front of the station.

Police said the injured children were first rushed to the station by the shocked bus driver after which they were taken by police to hospital.

Meanwhile, at a bar located close to the crime scene, a crowd of curious people gathered but were tight-lipped about what took place.

"All me can say is it sad," said one woman with a red bandana tied on her head and a slipper in one hand.

Another man close by said he was worried about the children.

The incident caused a massive traffic pile up in sections of Cross Roads, one of the city's bustling transportation hubs.