Two 12–year–old girls have been arrested following the abduction of a four–year–old child, police said today.

A spokesman said they have been questioned by detectives and released on bail pending further inquiries.

The incident has been described by police as having similarities to the James Bulger abduction.

The four–year–old was lured away from her mother by two youngsters who were pushing a disabled boy in a wheelchair – and re–dressed in stolen clothes in an effort to disguise her.

She was spotted 40 minutes later by a family friend, who managed to reunite her with her frantic mother.

The incident took place on Saturday lunchtime in the Piazza shopping area in the centre of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

The mother, a 35–year–old from the Salendine Nook area of Huddersfield, said she had been with her daughter and one–year–old son with a church group when the incident occurred. She was distracted for less than a minute – then turned around to notice her daughter had disappeared.

Police believe the four–year–old was taken into a shop and her abductors stole a pink hooded cardigan, which they made her wear – along with a sunhat which was pulled down to her eyes.

A member of the church group, who had joined the search for the missing youngster, then spotted the four–year–old at Huddersfield bus station and she was re–united with her mother.

A West Yorkshire police spokesman said: "Two 12–year–old girls were arrested yesterday in Halifax. They have been questioned and bailed pending further inquiries."

The incident comes seven years after the Liverpudlian toddler James Bulger was lured from his mother in a shopping centre by two young boys, before being murdered on a railway line.