MALICIOUS text messages blamed an attack on an Asian woman as a reprisal for the death of soldiers in Afghanistan, it emerged last night.

The messages were sent to Asian communities in Huddersfield, wrongly suggesting the Newsome incident was linked to the deaths of six soldiers – three from the town.

But last night, senior police officers stated there was no possible link with the incident involving the Asian woman and condemned those behind the texts.

They confirmed that the text messages circulating across the district had caused problems.

Supt Ged McManus, of Kirklees police, said: “In the incident that took place on Saturday, once we found the woman in question, it became clear that she had not been attacked and that the man who had approached her was Asian himself.

“There is therefore absolutely no basis to text messages going around Kirklees this week that have implied that this incident was a retribution attack by someone upset at the deaths of the soldiers in Afghanistan last week.

“These kinds of text messages are extremely unhelpful to both the police’s work and to the communities of Kirklees.

“We hope that by issuing this statement, we can set the record straight.”

The incident at the centre of the storm began just after 7pm on Saturday night when police received several calls from members of the public about what was then thought to be a teenage girl seen on Whitehead Lane screaming and possibly with serious injuries.

She was seen staggering in the street, shouting and doubled over as if in pain.

About the same time, a dark car and a silver Ford car were parked on Queen’s Mill Drive, opposite Riverside Snacks, with witnesses reporting that the woman was shouting at a person in the silver car to get away from her. They said she may have got out of that car.

The woman was found by officers, safe and well. She is a 27-year woman who said that she had been approached by an Asian man in a silver car, who thought she might have been a prostitute.

The woman provided a full account of what had taken place and the investigation was closed.

However, earlier this week police became aware of a text message circulating in Kirklees that suggested this incident was a targeted attack against an Asian woman and was an act of retribution following the deaths of the soldiers last week.