Two teenagers have been charged with the murder of a young Muslim described by his school and family as a perfect pupil and a model son.

Police are continuing to investigate the motive behind the stabbing of Ahmed Hassan, 17, who died from a single wound in the back at a railway station in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

The Heckmondwike Grammar School pupil, who was studying for four A levels and hoped to become a lawyer, was attacked as he waited with friends to catch a Saturday afternoon train to Manchester. They had planned to go shopping at the Trafford Centre to buy clothes to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

Witnesses said that four or five white youths, who appeared to be drunk, arrived on a train from Huddersfield and spotted the Asian teenagers. The attack that followed was understood to have been unprovoked.

Dave Poole, a shop worker at the station, spoke yesterday of the panic of passers-by as the incident unfolded. “It was terrible. There was a sudden commotion in the entrance way. I could see people screaming and running away from the platform,” he said.

Mr Poole, 51, said he left his shop to find Ahmed lying on the ground. “He was covered in blood and he was obviously very badly hurt, but he was definitely conscious. We could all hear him moaning and groaning. It must have been horrible for his friends.”

It is understood that an off-duty police officer gave chase as Ahmed’s assailants fled, and captured a suspect.

The dead boy’s family, who own a textile business, were described by friends as “grief-stricken and absolutely devastated”.

Ahmed’s head teacher, Mark Tweedle, said that Ahmed was studying A levels in politics, mathematics, law and economics in preparation to read law at university.

“He was popular with staff and peers alike, a thoughtful and articulate young man who was gentle, kind and sensitive,” he said.

“As one of his teachers remarked: if the world was full of Ahmed Hassans the world would be a very much better place.” Special assemblies were held at the school yesterday. A book of condolence has been opened and a memorial service will be held this week.

Speculation that a racial motive lay behind the killing was widespread yesterday in Muslim districts of Dewsbury and its neighbouring mill town, Batley, where Ahmed lived.

Dewsbury was the home town of Mohammed Sidique Khan, the leader of the suicide bombers who attacked London in July 2005, and racial tensions locally have been exploited by the British National Party. In the 2005 general election, the BNP received a higher vote — 5,066 — in Dewsbury than in any other constituency in Britain.

West Yorkshire Police said that they were keeping an open mind about the motive for the attack. It is understood that no clear evidence of racist intent has yet been found.

Khizar Iqbal, a Dewsbury Conservative councillor and the local authority’s Cabinet member with responsibility for community safety, said that it would be “completely wrong to speculate about a motive”.

“We should be challenging the gang culture of teenagers carrying knives and using them. As a society, we can’t allow this to go on,” he said.

However, a Batley councillor, Mahmood Akhtar, said that members of the Muslim community in Dewsbury and Batley were convinced that Ahmed was the victim of a race attack.

“It’s too soon to be certain, but most local residents are saying that the only reason the boy was targeted was the colour of his skin,” he said. Colin Auty, a BNP councillor in Dewsbury, denied that his party was responsible for inflaming racial tensions. He said he was sorry to learn of the boy’s death but claimed that the stabbing would have received far less attention had the victim been white and the suspected killers Asian.

Prayers for the dead boy were said at Dewsbury Minster on Sunday evening. The Bishop of Pontefract, the Right Rev Tony Robinson, said yesterday that his “thoughts and prayers and those of Christians locally” were with Ahmed’s family and friends.

The railway station was operating yesterday but some areas remained cordoned off as police searched for the murder weapon.

Two teenagers aged 17 and 18 were last night charged with murder and are due to appear before Batley magistrates this morning. Two men aged 19 and 24 who were also arrested in connection with the incident have been released without charge.

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