Young boy dragged into NSW toilet cubicle

A young boy who was dragged into a toilet cubicle in Sydney's southwest managed to escape when two other people entered the shopping centre rest room.

The 12-year-old victim was in the public toilet in Bass Hill on Saturday night when he noticed a man in a cubicle with the door open.

The boy tried to leave but the man "grabbed him by his waist and pulled him into the cubicle" in an attempted sexual assault, NSW Police said in a statement on Sunday.

The attacker hit the 12-year-old in the head during the ordeal.

But the boy managed to escape when two other men entered the toilet and startled the perpetrator.

Investigators have identified the suspect in CCTV footage and have asked him to hand himself in.