Police have arrested two teenage girls in the connection with the stabbing of a 16-year-old girl on Reid Street near Hamilton Police Station last Sunday.

The victim, who lost four pints of blood from two puncture wounds to her abdomen and back, spent the New Year recovering at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. She also had difficulty breathing after the stabbing. And last night, her mother said she was released from hospital Wednesday and was trying to recuperate from her ordeal.

According to witnesses to the 2 a.m. incident, the two attackers, aged 16 and 17, allegedly jumped the young teen in a gang style manner, stabbing her, leaving her to bleed. The victim was assisted by witnesses to the fracas. Of the arrest of her daughter's attackers, she said that she would reserve comment until the youths were charged.

She said: "For now I am going to see where it goes from here - but everyone understands and have been very concerned. She could have been killed. But she is home right now and I want things to be done right."