A GANG of nine young thugs stabbed a man in a busy Glasgow park.

The 22-year-old suffered serious injuries in the vicious attack late yesterday afternoon.

Police say the park was busy with sunbathers and have appealed for witnesses.

The attack happened around 5.15pm near the Old Stable Courtyard in Pollok Country Park.

The victim had been out with friends when he was assaulted by the youths.

He suffered serious abdominal wounds and was rushed by ambulance to the Southern General Hospital. Police are treating the incident as attempted murder.

DS Jane Lawson from Pollok CID said today: "Due to the warm weather yesterday, a number of people were in the park at the time of this assault.

"I would ask anyone who may have witnessed the attack to contact me."

Anyone with information should contact police on 0141 532 5436, or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

It's not the first violent incident to have happened in the South Side beauty spot.

In October 2004, a man was bludgeoned to death in a brutal attack in the park.

Stuart Robertson, 37, a father-of-three, was killed with a hammer by James Smith, 11 months after he was released from Leverndale Hospital in Glasgow.

Smith had met Mr Robertson in Leverndale, where they had become friends. But after a party, Robertson launched the murderous attack.

And in the early 1990s, prostitute Diane McInally, 23, was also found dead in Pollok Park.

She was one of seven prostitutes from Glasgow's red light district who were murdered between 1991 and 1998.