POLICE in Ipswich are today hunting three men suspected of carrying out a racially motivated attack.A 34-year-old man was left with a broken ankle following the viscous assault in Eagle Street.

POLICE in Ipswich are today hunting three men suspected of carrying out a racially motivated attack.

A 34-year-old man was left with a broken ankle following the viscous assault in Eagle Street.

He was walking home at about 12.30am yesterday when he was approached by three men.

An insult was shouted at the victim and he was then pushed to the ground and kicked, which caused his ankle to break.

His attackers then fled and the victim managed to get home before attending Ipswich Hospital.

Police have confirmed they are treating the attack as a racist incident due to comments made to the victim.

The incident follows the death of 18-year-old Anthony Walker in the Huyton area of Liverpool.

He was attacked with an axe on Friday evening.

Suffolk county councillor Joanna Spicer said she was "absolutely horrified" by the assault in Ipswich and called for urgent action to catch the perpetrators.

She said: "I am very, very shocked and hope there will be very urgent efforts to identify the perpetrators and they should be brought to justice as a matter of high urgency."

Harold Mangar, vice-president of Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality, said he too was shocked at the incident.

He warned tensions had been "heightened" since the London terrorist bombings and there had been more incidents of people being abused since then.

"I can't say I'm surprised that it happened. There have been one or two incidents of people being racially abused, but not many where actual physical violence takes place," said Mr Mangar.

The attack came as figures released today showed crimes motivated by religious hatred had jumped by nearly 600 per cent in London since the July 7 bombings.

However there has been little change in the number of incidents reported to Suffolk County Council's racial harassment line since the terror attacks, despite widespread fears of communities being targeted.

During July there were 40 incidents – just three more than in June and three less than last July. In total there were 456 racial incidents reported to the hotline in the year from July 2004.

The offenders are described as white. One had spiky hair and the other was wearing a baseball cap.

Anyone with information about the incident should contact Ipswich CID on 01473 613500.