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Arrests made after shooting follows Birmingham riots

British police arrested two men on Monday in the shooting death of a Birmingham teen, but warned it was too early to link the case to weekend riots spurred by unsubstantiated reports that a girl had been gang-raped.

The 18-year-old died after being shot in the head and the arm early Monday in a neighbourhood that lies only about half a kilometre from the scenes of the worst violence on Saturday and sporadic outbursts on Sunday.

Riot police confront protesters in Birmingham, Saturday.

The rioting followed a week of rising tensions between members of the African-Caribbean and Pakistani communities, after rumours that a teenage immigrant from Jamaica had been sexually assaulted by a group of Southeast Asian men.

West Midland police had tried to dampen tempers in the community by repeatedly saying that they investigated the complaint but found no evidence to confirm the incident had taken place. No official complaint was filed.

However, violence broke out on Saturday night after a public meeting called to reassure community concerns over the alleged assault.

Police said up to 50 young men ran amok in the Lozells area, setting vehicles on fire and ransacking homes and businesses.

The hundreds of riot police sent out to stop them were pelted with bottles and bricks before they managed to calm the streets a few hours later.

A 23-year-old black man was stabbed to death when he was attacked as he walked home from a film.

The violence injured more than 30 people, including a police officer who was shot in the thigh and a man with a fractured skull.

Police said the rioters committed as many as 80 separate criminal offences and five arrests were made.

On Monday, the rain-washed streets of the district looked quiet as community leaders tried to lower tensions and avoid a third night of confrontations.

Vehicles were torched during the rioting Saturday night.

But fear and anger were still running high in both on both sides of the racial divide.

"Black kids start running into the shop, rushing into the shop, jumping over the counter, smashed the till and start smashing the windows," said Asif Khan, a shop owner from the South Asian community. "It really got me scared."

"Those guys started to throw all kinds of missiles at us, so we throw back bricks, and we are not denying that we throw back bricks," said Veenie Brown, who works among members of the African-Caribbean community.

"They throw a firebomb at us, we throw a firebomb back at them."

By late Monday, police still hadn't confirmed that the shooting death was linked to the earlier disturbances.

Two men, aged 19 and 24, have been arrested in the shooting.

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