A police manhunt is underway on the Costa del Sol for two gangsters who shot a diner in a restaurant at a popular open-air marina shopping area in Malaga.

Customers and bystanders fled in panic after initially confusing the shots for firecrackers.

The victim was shot in the face and was left covered in blood on the ground, according to local media. 

Pictures published in the aftermath showed the targeted man being assisted by a security guard and another man wearing gloves.

He was lying on his front on the ground and had blood on the back of his white shorts.

The incident occurred around 10.30pm last night, and the restaurant was identified locally as Lounge Bar Plaza, a Mediterranean eatery and lounge bar on the Muelle Uno waterfront promenade in the port of Malaga.

It offers outdoor terrace seating with views of the harbour and yachts and is popular with tourists who flock to the area.

Police have yet to make any comment, and the nationality of the man shot and his nationality is not known at this stage.

Police are pictured at the scene of a shooting in Malaga on Tuesday night 

The area was cordoned off with police tape after the shooting as officers launched a manhunt for the two attackers said by witnesses to have ambushed the diner. No arrests are yet thought to have taken place.

Last night’s shooting was the second in less than a week in Malaga.

Around 11.30am last Friday a 20-year-old man died after being targeted by three men believed to be Swedish nationals in a city centre square.

Police are working on the theory the victim, who has been identified so far only by his first name of Nacho, was mistaken by his attackers for a hitman.

He had no criminal record, unlike the Swedish gunmen of Somali origin who had links to gangland crime.

The trio were arrested in separate operations in Malaga and Fuengirola and remanded in prison following their arrests soon after the shooting.

Nacho was shot in the leg and the back in the horror broad-daylight attack and managed to stagger to a nearby supermarket to raise the alarm. He died later the same day after being admitted to a hospital intensive care unit.

Police confirmed in a statement yesterday: ‘With regards to the murder in the Malaga shooting the investigation is ongoing, but the initial hypothesis is that the victim was not linked to any kind of criminal organisation or drugs trafficking.’

Sources said they believed Nacho could have been mistaken by his killers for a hitman from a rival gang about to target them because of the clothes he was wearing and a man bag he had on which they wrongly thought could have a weapon inside.

Friends said afterwards the victim ‘had an enormous heart’ as his mum Laura published an emotional open letter calling him a ‘great lover of animals’ and revealing his talent for music.

On September 8 two Danish nationals and a Dutchman were arrested after a police chase along Marbella’s famous Golden Mile following the shooting of a Dutch national near the four-star Aparthotel Monarque Sultan in the Costa del Sol resort.

The gun attack took place around 2.15pm.

The 48-year-old victim is understood to have been shot in the leg in the incident which is being linked to feuding between rival drugs gangs.

In the early hours of August 24 a 33-year-old Senegalese man was shot dead in Marbella, about a five-minute drive from the scene of the previous incident in the Costa town.

The first footage of the moment police arrived at the scene of that shooting in a street called Calle Pintor Pacheco near the resort seafront and fishing port emerged hours after police confirmed they had launched a murder investigation.

In their only official comment, the National Police said shortly after the incident: ‘The National Police have opened an investigation to clarify the homicide in Marbella of a 33-year-old man, found early on the morning of August 24 with two gunshot wounds to the abdominal area.

‘The victim was found dead around 2.20am in a public area, with the corresponding judicial protocol being activated after medical personnel confirmed the person’s death.

‘Officers assigned to the Specialized and Violent Crime Unit (UDEV) of the National Police Station in Marbella have taken charge of the investigation to fully clarify the facts.’

The murdered man was initially thought to have been the victim of a hit-and-run before it emerged he had been shot.

Rosa Ana Moron, the Chief Prosecutor of Spain’s Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office, warned recently more resources including specialised courts were needed to fight against organised crime in southern Spain’s Andalucia region.

Andalucia’s president Juanma Moreno responded by saying on X: ‘A few days ago, the State Prosecutor General’s Office warned of this in its annual report, and now the chief anti-drug prosecutor of the National Court says it: drug trafficking is spreading in Andalusia and is a structural problem.

‘More resources are urgently needed. There must be a response from the central government now.’

This is a breaking news story, more to follow.