Mourners from throughout the Keighley Asian community gathered on Wednesday for the funeral of stabbing victim Qadir Ahmed.

About 1,000 people joined 24-year-old Mr Ahmed's family and friends for the service at Keighley's Emily Street Mosque.

Mr Ahmed, of Gordon Street, Keighley, who ran his own security business and was a former pupil of Greenhead School, Keighley, was stabbed and beaten to death on Victoria Park roundabout in February.

After the hour-long service, conducted by Pir Mahroof Hussain, the Iman of the Mosque in Westgate, Bradford, Mr Ahmed's body was taken to his home and was being flown to Pakistan yesterday for burial next to his father. He was the fourth young man from Keighley to be slain in a violent attack since last September.

The deaths have rocked not just the Asian population but the wider community in Keighley.

Khadim Hussain, of Keighley Sangat Centre, said those attending the funeral shared the grief of Mr Ahmed's family.

"As a community we should look to the positive aspects and try to come together and take ownership of the problems -- only we can resolve them.

"There has never been a more pressing time for the community to come together. I am not just talking about the Asian community but the wider community of Asian, Muslim, non-Muslim and white," he said.