Police in Birmingham have launched a murder inquiry after three British Asian men were killed by a car

Police in Birmingham have launched a murder inquiry after three British Asian men were killed by a car in an incident that has raised fresh tensions over protection for neighbourhoods and businesses from young looters.

A tearful and resentful crowd gathered outside the City hospital following the incident early on Wednesday morning, with police protecting the building against any incursion as feelings ran high.

A man has been arrested and a car impounded following the crash near a mosque in the Dudley Road area of England's second city. Neighbours said the men had just left the mosque and were among large numbers of local people determined not to allow the fluid series of grab-and-run attacks in the city centre to spread to their area.

Unconfirmed reports suggested that two of the men were brothers. The BBC has interviewed the father of another victim, Haroon Jahan, 21.

Emergency ambulances found around 80 people already trying to help the victims when they arrived at the scene, which is close to a petrol station on Dudley Road. Throughout Tuesday, large numbers of British Asians had gathered outside shops and other businesses in Handsworth, Lozells and other inner-city areas, sometimes in tense face-offs with small groups of mostly Afro-Caribbean youths.

Confrontation with the British Asian community or inter-communal violence would take the disturbances onto a new level and police have worked rapidly on the murder inquiry. It comes on top of 19 court appearances due on Wednesday after 43 arrests on Tuesday, and a further 37 on Tuesday night as violence dogged pockets of Birmingham and neighbouring West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.

West Midlands ambulance service said two of the victims died at the scene and the third in the City hospital early on Wednesday morning. Forensic experts are examining the scene and the impounded car and an appeal has made for witnesses.

Police do not yet know if there is any link to the troubles beyond the fact that unusually large numbers of people were on the streets in Winson Green and neighbouring suburbs. A spokesman for the West Midlands force said: "The incident took place close to the Jet filling station on Dudley Road in Winson Green at approximately 1.15am. Three ambulances, two rapid response vehicles and an incident support officer was sent to the scene.

"When crews arrived, they found around 80 people at the scene with resuscitation ongoing on three men. Crews used their advanced life support skills while police officers provided support."

Violence in Birmingham on Tuesday night was on a much-reduced scale compared with Monday, but its spread to West Bromwich and Wolverhampton in contrast to the relative calm in London attracted growing attention. Police are growing increasingly used to troublemakers' use of Twitter and other swift links to spot unprotected areas and zero in on them.

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