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Three arrested over park stabbing Son link in fatal park stabbing
(about 2 hours later)
Police have arrested three people after a 50-year-old man was stabbed to death when he intervened in a fight in a park in Lancashire. Police are investigating whether the fatal stabbing of a man in a park in Lancashire was related to an alleged attack on his son five months ago.
Mohammed Raja Shafiq, 50, was injured when he tried to stop trouble involving up to 50 people at Thompson Park in Burnley. Mohammed Raja Shafiq, 50, was hit on the head and stabbed as he tried to stop trouble at Thompson Park in Burnley on Tuesday.
Mr Shafiq, from York Street, Nelson, was described as a "family man" and died on Tuesday night in hospital. About 10 people were involved but up to 50 others watched, police said.
Three males, including a 17-year-old and 18-year-old, are being questioned. A lake is being drained in a search for the weapon. Five men are being held in connection with the incident.
Police said inquiries are being made to trace others they believed were involved in the incident at lunchtime on Tuesday. Lancashire police said the attack was not racially-motivated.
A major incident room has been set up by officers in Burnley and a large pond near the scene of the fight is being drained. Mr Shafiq, from York Street, Nelson, was described as a "family man". He died a few hours after the attack in the Royal Blackburn Hospital.
Mr Shafiq's home is about four miles from the park. It is believed up to 10 people were involved in the violence and some people ended up in the boating lake, police said.
Det Supt Mick Gradwell: "This is a very serious incident in Thompson Park. Mr Shafiq, a father-of-five, was hit on the head with an iron bar and stabbed in the abdomen, police said.
"I appeal for anyone with information, or who may have seen this incident to come forward. The victim's son is believed to have attended Burnley College, which backs on to the landscaped park.
"A 50-year-old man has died after it appears he intervened in an incident. Police have cordoned off a grassy, flat bank next to the boating lake and forensic teams are at the scene.
"We are actively seeking others in connection with the stabbing." A pupil from Burnley College said he thought the victim's son had got involved in an argument and that his father had intervened.
Det Supt Mick Gradwell, leading the inquiry, told the BBC that Mr Shafiq's family had been left devastated by his death.
"There's probably about five to ten people who are actually involved in the incident," said Mr Gradwell.
"But, yes, I can confirm that there may have been in total, say forty to fifty people who were in the park, possibly watching but not part of the incident. "So there are a lot of witnesses who have seen what's happened to Mr Shafiq.
"Anybody who is aware of what happened before, during or after, I really want to hear from, and urge them to come forward."