PM pledges gang violence crackdown

By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged to crack down on gang violence on Thursday after an 11-year-old boy was shot dead while playing football with friends in the latest in a wave of deadly attacks.

Brown broke away from a government meeting on youth violence to express alarm at the murder and vow to bring the killers to justice as Britain struggled to cope with a new style of crime. Police arrested two teenage boys in connection with the killing.

"(It's) a heinous crime that has shocked the whole of the country," Brown said in a televised address. "The people responsible will be tracked down, arrested and punished."

The murder is the latest in a series of stabbings and shootings across the country that police say are linked to gangs and a culture of violent "yobs" -- aggressive young people who drink or take drugs and attack those who challenge them.

Gun crime was rare in Britain two decades ago and police only seldom patrolled with weapons. But illegal firearms are increasingly available in cities and gun deaths have surged.

Fatal stabbings have also become commonplace -- hardly a week goes by without another being reported -- as youths carry knives to threaten others or ward off threats.

At least 17 young people have been shot or stabbed to death in London this year. While that might pale in comparison to violence in cities such as Los Angeles or Rio de Janeiro, it is considered alarming by British police and crime experts.

As in many cities the world over, the gang crime is related to battles over territory. In Britain, police say gangs often identify themselves by their postcode.