MURDERED teen Shakilus Townsend sobbed and pleaded: "Where's my mum? Don't let me die" as he lay in the street in a pool of his own *lo** after being repeatedly stabbed by a masked gang.

Shakilus was attacked just before 2pm yesterday in what a senior detective described as another senseless incident in which a young life has been taken away by a knife.

A gang of other young boys - wearing horrifying masks and hoods - chased him before circling around and raining blows as he begged for mercy.

Forensics ... officers sift through rubbish

National Pictures

His body was found in a grimy stairwell by neighbours, in Beulah Crescent, Thornton Heath, south London. Cops swiftly retrieved a *lo**ied EIGHT INCH kitchen knife dumped in a nearby front garden.

Shakilus died in St Georges Hospital, Tooting, south London, just after midnight last night - the 18th teenager to meet a violent death in London this year.

Cops say he was involved in gangs himself but the row had been over a girl.

Today neighbours in Beulah Crescent said they desperately tried to save the teen.

Dee Bamina, 35, tried to stem the bleeding from a wound to his chest with a bath towel.

She said: I think a group of boys must have been after the boy. All I heard was them saying get him from the other side.

Ms Bamina said she saw a gang of four or five boys aged 15 to 19 with scarves covering their faces. One had a baseball bat. A light-skinned black girl was also with them, she said.

Ms Bamina said: I tried to ask him his name and to tell him to calm down and lie down because he was trying to get up and go.

She said the boy was saying: I dont want to die and wheres my mum, I want my mum.

The 16-year-old told her he did not know his attackers.

Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons, of the Metropolitan Police Homicide and Serious Crime Command, who is leading the investigation, said: This is another senseless incident in which a young life has been taken away by a knife.

Given that this happened outside a block of flats in broad daylight, I am certain there are people who will have witnessed this murder.

I would urge those people to come forward and speak to the police to help us bring justice to Shakiluss family and friends."

No suspects have yet been arrested, police said.

A number of residents were moved to a nearby Methodist church yesterday as police investigated the attack.

Today two cordons were set up in Beulah Crescent, one around Lakeman Court and the other around flats opposite where neighbours tried to save the boy.

Shakilus was attacked four days after 16-year-old Ben Kinsella, the brother of former EastEnders star Brooke Kinsella, was knifed to death in Islington, north London. Three teenagers were appearing in court today charged with Bens murder.