POLICE say it's too soon to tell whether the toddler targeted in an acid attack has suffered "life-changing" burns – and officers believe the attack was not racially motivated.

The three-year-old boy was attacked on Saturday at around 2.15pm in Home Bargains at Shrub Hill Retail Park in Tallow Hill, Worcester, and four men have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Yesterday, West Mercia Police's Chief Superintendent Mark Travis addressed the media, saying that the attack did not appear to be "racially motivated" and had nothing to do with the English Defence League demonstration and counter-protests on Saturday afternoon.

Three men, aged 22, 25 and 26, were arrested in London on Sunday night, on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.

This followed police releasing a CCTV image of three men they wanted to question in relation to the attack.

Another man, a 39-year-old from Wolverhampton arrested on Saturday, remains in police custody on suspicion of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.

Mr Travis said: "We will not release information about the ethnicity of the family as there is no evidence that this is a racially motivated incident.

"It (acid) is not the way to resolve a dispute.

"We are keeping all options open and at present we do not know the motivations of the attack.

"We believe the acid was sprayed or thrown at the boy and that he was targeted.

"He has suffered burns to the face and arms. It is too early to say if they are life-changing – we are hopeful they will not be. He has been released from hospital, but is being cared for by specialists at home.

"We currently have four suspects in custody.

"This will be a long and complex investigation.

"I would like to reassure people that incidents of this nature are very rare in Worcester.

"I would like to thank everyone in our local community and across the country for their help and support with this investigation. The response to the images we released has been fantastic.

"This has been a shocking incident which we know has caused a great deal of concern in our community. I can reassure people that Worcester remains a safe place to live and work.

"Our thoughts are with the little boy and his family at this time and we are absolutely committed to getting to the bottom of this incident. We would ask that the media continues to respect their privacy at this difficult time.

"We are not issuing any further information regarding their identities for operational reasons.

"I would like to pay tribute to my officers, some of whom have worked for 24 hours without rest on this investigation and have done a thorough and painstaking job.

"The operation has been a great example of partnership work across this police force but also with other forces across the country.

"There is still work to do and we are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances of the incident. We are still appealing for anyone with information to come forward and help us with our enquiries."

Anyone with information can call police on 101 quoting incident 442s of July 21.