A 14-year-old boy is in a critical condition after suffering several stab wounds after being knifed in the early hours of Saturday outside a Birmingham mosque.
The attack happened near the Idaara Maarif-e-Islam mosque in Small Heath at around 1am on Saturday as worshippers were commemorating Ashura.
Detective Inspector Jim Colclough, from West Midlands Police, said: “I’d urge anyone who was in the vicinity, saw what happened, or has any other information which may help our investigation to contact me or my team on 101, or to call Crimestoppers as soon as possible.”
The police say they don’t believe the attack is terror-related but are investigating religious or racial motives.
Mosque president Azhar Kiani told the Birmingham Mail the victim’s father witnessed the attack after arriving in his car. A second source said the teenager’s brother was also present.
Mr Kiani said: “It happened on the pavement. By the time the dad parked his car, his son was on the floor. There was a young man who was brutally beating the boy with a knife. There was blood everywhere, he was hitting the boy’s neck and head. Then the attacker ran off and got into a car.”
The motivation for the attack is not yet known, although some worshippers at the mosque have indicated that it was sectarian. A man aged 29 was arrested on suspicion of the stabbing attack and is in custody.
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Meanwhile, in light of the speculation of sectarian motives a statement by a number of Shia and Sunni Muslim groups, including the Muslim Council of Britain, has condemned the attack.
“We condemn, in the strongest terms, the knife attack on a 14-year-old boy outside the Idaara Maarif-e-Islam Hussainia Mosque and Community Centre in Small Health, Birmingham,” the statement said.
“The victim received life-threatening injuries to the neck and head. We offer our love and prayers for the victim and his family. We recognise this is a difficult time for the local community, who have many concerns about the motive behind the attack, but we urge all in our communities to remain calm while the police establish the facts.
“Let us, as representatives of Britain’s diverse Muslim communities, send a clear message to the attackers: your hatred and your actions disgust us. You do not represent us. You will not divide the unity that we as faith communities enjoy and have worked hard to establish. And you will not stop Islam from being practiced in all its beautiful diversity.
“Finally, let us remember that we have a long history of working together. We celebrate and embrace the diversity of our communities, and we will continue to support one another in times of need.”
