A KURD who waved a knife in a Blackburn street disturbance lost his temper after being compared to Saddam Hussain.

Such words were a "deadly insult" to Mohammed Oumed.

During the incident, in Audley Range, two men were injured.

Oumed, 28, formerly of Ada Street, Blackburn, now living in Manchester, was sentenced to a community order of 120 hours unpaid work when he appeared at Preston Crown Court.

He admitted affray and criminal damage last August. The two men who ended up injured, Hamid Shah and Shabaz Nawaz, were waiting in a car to collect a friend.

Kevin Donnelly, prosecuting, said there was a confrontation, and Oumed had a heated verbal exchange with one of them. Oumed ran into a nearby house before re-emerging to shout words like "I kill you" at the top of his voice. By that stage, he was holding what looked like a lock knife.

Witnesses described him wildly waving it around. One man was treated at hospital for an arm injury, and the other had a small cut on his forearm. Oumed said he had not struck anyone with the knife, either deliberately or accidentally.

Stuart Denney, defending, said there had been a verbal exchange in the street with two men of Pakistani origin.

Two things were said to him. One was the word "Iraqi", and another comparing him to Saddam Hussain.

Mr Denney said: "As a Kurd, it is to be compared with the man who tried to perpetrate genocide on his people. It is a deadly insult to a Kurd."