Teenager stabbed outside school

It is thought three youths were involved in the incident

A teenage boy has been wounded in a stabbing outside his Birmingham school.

Police and an ambulance were called to The Heartlands High School in the Nechells area, after the 14-year-old suffered injuries to his stomach.

It is thought the boy is from the Winson Green district. Police believe three offenders were involved who are not pupils at the school.

The boy has undergone surgery at City Hospital and his condition is not life-threatening, said police.

The attack took place at lunchtime on Friday. Police have not given any descriptions of the trio they are looking for.

A witness who did not want to be named described how he saw a commotion a taking place near the school.

"I noticed the area had been cordoned off, there was a lot of police activity and I could see someone lying on the floor and ambulance staff tending to him," he said.

'Isolated incident'

Det Ch Insp Mark Robinson said none of the three suspects attended Heartlands High.

He said: "I would stress that this is an isolated incident and at the moment all the intelligence would suggest it is just that."

Mr Robinson said it was another example of a crime committed by someone who was carrying a knife for no good reason.

Local resident Dean Billingham, 26, said: "We saw the young lad lying on the floor near a tree. The only other thing we could see was a bunch of kids on the corner and some other kids by a wall.

"Two teachers were kneeling down by the lad on the grass and there did not appear to be any panic."

The incident comes two days after the government launched a nationwide knives amnesty in a bid to reduce knife crime and follows the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Kiyan Prince outside a school in London.

In the West Midlands, 1,600 bladed weapons have been dropped in surrender bins since a regional amnesty was launched on 27 March.

As part of the One Knife, One Life campaign, officers from the force are visiting schools across the West Midlands to highlight the dangers of carrying knives.

'Knife-carrying culture'

Det Ch Insp Gordon Scobie, the officer in charge of the amnesty, said the incident was disappointing but the force was only just at the beginning of its campaign.

"It is an unfortunate incident but I think it highlights the need for the current amnesty and the educational resources we are looking at in schools in the West Midlands as we speak," he said.

"The amnesty is only part of the strategy to tackle knife crime and the knife-carrying culture particularly amongst young people."

The campaign is targeting 11 to 16-year-olds, particularly young males.

"Research shows that across the country the carrying of knives is becoming acceptable," he said.

"We are trying to show rather than being safer carrying a knife you are actually more vulnerable."

The Heartlands High School, situated in an inner city area of Birmingham, has just over 600 pupils.

It was described as a good and improving school in this year's Ofsted report.

The school, formerly called Duddeston Manor, hit the headlines in the early 1980s when it counted among its pupils the reggae band Musical Youth.