LONDON // A teenage student from Qatar has died after being beaten in a racially-motivated attack in an English seaside town.

The 16-year-old boy, named yesterday as Mohammed al Majed by Sussex police, died from head injuries on Sunday night following the attack 48 hours earlier in the East Sussex town on Hastings on England’s south coast.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said last night: “Police are currently treating his death as a murder inquiry and are investigating it as racially motivated at this time.”

The teenager was with a group of fellow students from Qatar when they were attacked by a gang of local men outside the USA Fried Chicken and Kebab House, close to the seafront, shortly before midnight on Friday.

He suffered a head injury in the attack and was initially treated at a hospital locally before being transferred to a specialist unit at Kings College Hospital in London, where he died on Sunday.

Three men, aged 17, 18 and 20, were arrested but have since been released on police bail pending further inquiries.

It is understood that the student had been with a party that arrived in Britain from the Gulf about five weeks ago. He was due to return home this weekend.

Chief Insp Natalie Carron said: “The young man’s death is incredibly sad. No matter how rare an incident like this is, the effect on the young man’s family and tragic consequences can only be imagined.”

Police patrols in the centre of Hastings – a town that attracts more than 30,000 foreign students a year, mainly to its English language schools – were being stepped up yesterday, and officers were in talks with colleges to identify any specific problems.

Det Ch Insp Graham Pratt, who is leading the investigation, yesterday appealed for witnesses to the attack to come forward.

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