THE father of a factory worker stabbed near his home spoke out today as police probed links between the attack and a fatal shooting. Mohammed Fazal said his son Kizar Hussain was knifed yards from his home in Frances Road, Lozells, as he tried to help the victim of an an earlier stabbing.

Both attacks happened shortly before a 20-year-old man was gunned down less than a mile away in Melbourne Avenue, Newtown, at 8pm, on Monday.

Mr Fazal said his 23-year-old son was struck on the head with a bottle and stabbed just above the knee of his left leg.

"I feel terrible about this because nothing like it has ever happened before," Mr Fazal said.

"I was at the mosque when it happened and Kizar had gone to hospital by the time I arrived home.

"We were with him until late into the night and were told he would need surgery because his leg injury was so deep."

A trail of blood marked the spot where Mr Hussain, a Redditch-based TNT worker, was stabbed at the junctions of Frances Road and Lime Grove.

It continued along the pavement and ended near the injured man's home.

Mr Fazal, a 48-year-old taxi driver and father-of-four, said his son was injured as he went to help the victim of an earlier stabbing in Lime Grove.

He claimed a gang of four black men were responsible for the attack.