Two teenage girls were involved in stamping on and kicking an unconscious man in the head up to 20 times after he became the victim of a vicious racist attack in Dublin city.

Details of this crime and other sickening attacks by a "feral" street gang emerged yesterday when gardai investigating 15 separate incidents pounced on a number of suspects.

A total of 11 teenagers, including three girls, were arrested by gardai in a major operation yesterday against the street gang who have been terrorising people in the city centre over the last two months.

The gang of teenagers have been using the plaza around the Central Bank as a base for meeting up before carrying out a series of vicious crimes.

The Dame Street attack on a Brazilian man happened in the early hours of July 23 and sources say that the victim is "extremely lucky that he was not murdered in the attack".

A senior source explained: "Seven people were involved in the initial assault on the man and he was beaten so badly that he was knocked out.

"While he lay unconscious on the ground, he suffered up to 20 blows to the head in the form of kicks and stamps."

The two females that were part of this seven-person gang were "by far the worst aggressors", the source added.

All of the suspects were expected to be released without charge today. Senior sources revealed that gardai are still hunting for up to nine more gang members who have been involved in a string of savage assaults and thefts in the south city mostly in the month of July.

The massive search and arrest operation is being led by Detective Inspector Michael Cryan of Pearse Street Garda Station and is "very much ongoing" according to sources.

Apart from this racist attack, the gang are also suspected of being involved in a number of homophobic attacks as well as distraction thefts of smart phones, wallets and other goods.

The night before the Dame Street attack, the gang were caught on CCTV attacking a woman and her boyfriend in a sickening random attack outside a shop which left the female victim with a broken nose and other severe facial injuries.

One of the most serious incidents which the gang have been linked to is an attack on a man in the Christchurch area who was stabbed in the back with a broken bottle.

While in the same week, the mob are suspected of attacking a couple in the Dame Lane area and beating them before stealing a few cans of beer that the couple had in their possession.

Gardai suspect that the "savage feral behaviour" exhibited by the thugs has led to concerns that they have been using the notorious banned head shop drug mephedrone and mixing it with alcohol. None of the arrested teenagers had significant previous criminal records.

As well as arresting more suspects, detectives are attempting to establish how they became associated with each other as they have addresses as diverse as Saggart in west Dublin to Drogheda in Co Louth.

Online Editors