A shopkeeper was seriously injured as he fought off attackers who tried to rob him and who retaliated with "a shocking level of violence" when he refused their demands for cash.
The two men entered A&A Stores, on the corner of South Trinity Road and Cargill Terrace in Edinburgh, at around 5.20pm on Friday and demanded money.
Read more: Police tighten security on chief constable's 'open' Facebook profile
They attacked the shopkeeper before leaving the store, and were last seen heading along Cargill Terrace.
Detective Sergeant Todd Rutherford, of Corstorphine CID, said: "This was a cowardly attack, and the shopkeeper bravely fought off the attackers despite a shocking level of violence and the serious injuries he sustained.
"At the time of the incident, it is likely there would have been pedestrians and drivers in the Cargill Terrace area and we know the suspects were loitering near the shop before the incident took place.
"If anyone has seen these men before, during or after the attack, please contact us."
The first suspect is described as 20-25, of medium build, with a pale complexion and unshaven.
Read more: Teenager undergoes neck surgery after attack in Glasgow
The second suspect is described as 35-40, slim, with a pale complexion, gaunt features and unshaven.
Both suspects wore dark clothing and dark woollen beanie hats and one was wearing a dark body warmer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article