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Four friends who died in Bradford crash named

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Four friends who died in a car crash while being pursued by an unmarked police vehicle in Bradford have been named.

Murtza Chaudhry, 21, Arbaaz Hussain, 21, Zeeshan Khalid, 20, and Tayyab Siddique, 22, were killed in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The BMW the men were travelling in was being pursued by police when it crashed on Toller Lane, Bradford, at around 5.30am on Thursday.

CCTV footage has emerged showing the car travelling down the road at speed before crashing into a tree.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said: "We understand at this time that the grey BMW 1 Series car in which they were travelling was pursued for a short time, by an unmarked West Yorkshire Police car, due to excessive speed before the crash."

Statements will be taken from the officers involved, who are being treated as witnesses, and dashcam footage from the police vehicle will also be analysed.

Image: Murtza Choudhury, 21, was one of the victims of the collision on Thursday

The police watchdog also said there was "no indication" the police vehicle involved made contact with the BMW prior to the crash.

Miranda Biddle, an IOPC regional director, said: "We have support in place for the families of those who have died.

"My thoughts are with them, and all those affected by this incident including all emergency services involved."

She had earlier said: "Our investigators are attending post-incident procedures, have travelled to the scene and have begun gathering evidence."

A manager of a nearby coffee shop described those who died as "polite young men".

Mohammed Rashid, 51, said that the people involved in the crash had been going to his shop since they were boys and claimed they were all friends.

A police cordon was put in place after the crash
Image: A police cordon was put in place after the crash

He added: "It's an absolute tragedy. Your heart just goes out to the families, to their parents.

"They were all polite young men, although I only knew them to greet and say hello to every now and then when they came in."

Police and firefighters were called to the scene near the junction with Bingley Road, at 5.30am.

The remains of the wrecked car were examined at the scene and then covered in a yellow sheet later on Thursday morning.

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Salim Rahman, who lived near the scene of the crash, said: "I have been living on Toller Lane for 33 years and there are always cars coming up here too quickly. It's not unusual to hear sirens and police chasing people."

The 69-year-old added: "It's incredibly sad to hear about it, your heart goes out to their parents."

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