GETTY Puerto Banus is southwest of Marbella, Spain on the Costa del Sol

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One woman, a 19-year-old from Farnborough in Hampshire, suffered a broken nose after being punched in the face. A second woman, a 20-year-old from Essex, was taken to hospital semi-conscious with arm and head injuries. Witnesses claimed the men, French-born but of Arabic origin, began to attack the young women in the upmarket resort of Puerto Banus near Marbella after one tried to touch up the teenager who suffered the broken nose. One man was arrested for assault and three friends taken with him to a nearby police station so they could be identified as part of an ongoing investigation.

GETTY One man was arrested for assault and three friends taken with him to a nearby police station

Police are thought to be trying to identify other men involved in the incident who are said to have fled as officers arrived. The incident happened just before 6am on Tuesday morning in a road running behind Puerto Banus named Julio Iglesias Avenue after the veteran crooner. Police intervened after spotting what they initially described as a brawl between around 15 people. Once they separated the two groups, they saw one of the injured women was losing blood from her nose and another was lying semi-conscious on the ground.

GOOGLE Julio Iglesias Avenue, Puerto Banus

A friend of the injured pair told officers one of the men punched the British teenager in the face after a verbal row turned violent. The 22-year-old suspect was arrested and three other men the women told police had attacked them were taken away by police so they could be identified although they were not formally arrested. They are understood to have travelled to the area from Seville two hours drive away where they were on holiday. The two British women were taken to a nearby health centre before being taken to the Costa del Sol Hospital for treatment.

GETTY The incident happened just before 6am on Tuesday morning