Police have arrested 14 teenagers, some as young as 13, in connection with the death of a 16-year-old boy who was stabbed after a birthday party at a community centre in North London.

It is understood that David Nowak, from Stoke Newington, was killed during a mass street brawl at about 11pm on Saturday, after a group of youths tried to gatecrash the event in Stoke Newington. Scotland Yard said that he died from a single stab wound to his liver and kidney. Another youth, aged 15, was also taken to hospital, but is said to be in a stable condition.

The death takes the number of teenagers shot, stabbed or beaten to death in London this year to 26 and is the second murder in Stoke Newington in a month. On November 14, Etem Celebi, 17, was shot a few streets away on the Smalley Close estate.

Detectives said that they were looking into the possibility the latest incident was gang-related. The victim was known by his graffiti tag, Turk.

Witnesses reported seeing youths running up the street holding hammers and planks of wood.

One female and 13 male youths, ages ranging from 13 to 19, were taken to police stations in North and East London and remain in custody.

Detective Chief Inspector Matt Horne, of the Met’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command, who is leading the investigation, said: “About 11pm on Saturday police were called to a large disturbance in Farleigh Road. A 16-year-old male youth was taken to the Royal London Hospital suffering from a stab wound. He was pronounced dead at 12.19am today.”

Yesterday, a trail of blood stretched hundreds of yards from the bottom of Farleigh Road past a parade of shops and up Shacklewell Road into a housing estate. The trail ended only yards from the Somerford and Shacklewell Community Centre.

The residents described a loud and raucous party that began early Saturday evening. By 11pm nearly a hundred people, most in their teens and early 20s, had congregated in and outside the hall.

One witness described seeing a young man bleeding heavily and clutching his abdomen while pleading for help as he ran through the Somerford Grove estate. He said: “He came running around this area and said, ‘Someone help me, someone help me’. There was a lot of blood, he was holding his arm across his chest. He was by himself but I think someone was chasing him.”

Dozens of uniformed officers searched back gardens and yards on the huge housing estate yesterday. It is not known whether police have found the murder weapon. One police source described the search of the estate as like looking for “a needle in a haystack”.

The death follows the murder of Etem Celebi, a childhood friend of Leona Lewis, The X Factor winner. Etem was fatally shot in a back yard near his home.

Another man was murdered in a separate incident in Shacklewell Lane at the end of October. Police began a murder investigation after James McDonagh, 53, was found with head injuries outside a pub in the early hours of October 31. He had been involved in an altercation with a large number of people. Two men were arrested and bailed pending further inquiries.

John Lutchman, 60, a former serviceman who lives next to the community centre, described the area as blighted by crime. He said that he was scared to go out at night after being mugged only months before.

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