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Police are still hunting for two men who beat an Iranian kebab shop owner to a pulp in Auckland on Thursday night.
The 39-year-old man was found by staff from an adjacent liquor store with severe facial wounds at his All Go Kebab shop on Wairau Rd, Glenfield.
He is currently in a stable condition in intensive care at Auckland Hospital awaiting urgent facial surgery.
"The injuries suffered by this man are horrific. Extreme violence has been used," said Detective Steve Pivac, of North Shore police.
"It is among the worst beatings that I have seen for a long time".
Police say it will be several days before he is well enough to talk to them in detail. In the meantime they still have a guard on the scene while forensic work is carried out, and are looking at security footage.
The attackers would have left the scene covered in the victim's blood, they said.
The victim has lived in New Zealand for nearly 20 years, and police said there were no signs the beating was racially motivated.
- NZPA
