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By News Editor Declan Wilkes An 18-year-old boy has lost his fight for life after he was lynched in a terrifying gang brawl in Bow on Wednesday night. The youth was beaten to the ground and stabbed as two gangs armed with baseball bats and machete style blades clashed near the Eastside Youth Centre in Parnell Road around 9.20pm. The victim is the first teen murdered in London this year. Speaking to the Evening Standard, Miniara Ali, 37, who saw the attacks from her kitchen window said: "Suddenly I heard this screaming. I went outside to see more clearly what was happening and saw a group of boys punching and kicking another boy on the ground. They were in a circle all round him. I was terrified".
Second Bow knife murder in weeks
It is the second gang related death in Bow in a matter of weeks. On 20 December, less than a mile away on Devons Road, another 18-year-old male was found stabbed to death. A 15-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Police believe the boy was stabbed in a basketball court off Chiltern Road and staggered several hundred metres to Devons Road.
Postcode war - Friends lucky to escape
A postcode war between the Bow Bloodshedders and the IOD Gang from the Isle of Dogs is thought to be behind the chaos in East London.
In the latest attack, three of the teenager's friends were lucky to escape with their lives after the car they were hiding in was set upon by the bloodthirsty gang. The 17-year-old driver, who is also thought to have been stabbed - chased them off when he brandished a huge knife. A spokesman for the Met said eight people had now been arrested, two women in their twenties and forties, and six teenagers and men aged between 16 and 20. Anyone with information is asked to call police on 020 7275 4546 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
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