LONDON, Oct 24: An 18-year-old man was shot dead on Monday, police said, as Britain’s second city of Birmingham suffered a second night of violence involving members of its ethnic communities.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the shooting, which took place in the Newtown area of Birmingham, central England, at about 1:00 am (0000 GMT) on Monday.

Police said it was “too early to tell” whether the killing was linked directly to disturbances on Saturday that were sparked by rumours of an alleged rape of a 14-year-old Afro-Caribbean girl in a south Asian-owned shop.

The shooting happened about one kilometre from the run-down Lozells area of Birmingham, where another man was stabbed to death and 35 people taken to hospital on Saturday night during violence that saw shops, cars and businesses attacked.

Earlier on Sunday night, sporadic incidents of violence broke out involving youths of south Asian origin, who defied police and community leaders’ appeals for calm, following unconfirmed reports of an attack on a local mosque.

“This is about more than the rape case,” one of the protesters told Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency.

“They have attacked our religion and that’s not right.”—AFP