Taxi driver and friends punched and beaten in unprovoked attack in inner north Taxi driver Hammad Taj was bashed and robbed on Sydney Rd. A TAXI driver was viciously punched then thrashed with a tree branch during a racist attack in Melbourne's north. Pakistan-born Hamad Taj said three attackers screamed racial abuse at him and his two mates before they launched a frenzied assault and robbed them. He was driving friends Muhammad Zeeshan and Zohaib Khalid Malik, also from Pakistan, to a Sunday lunch when the carload of louts pulled out in front of them on Sydney Road. The thugs spat at Mr Taj's taxi screaming "go back to your country, bloody Indians" before jumping out of their car at the next set of lights at Harding Street in Coburg, Mr Raj said. "We had to stop at the traffic lights and they got out and started running towards us," Mr Taj said. I got out of the car and said 'I don't want to fight' but then one came over and started punching me in the face. After copping a number of blows to the face Mr Taj, 33, managed to stumble a few metres along Harding St before one of the attackers caught him. He grabbed me again and grabbed a nearby branch and hit me on the back and in the stomach. He punched me once more in the nose and I fell down. Another thug had pinned Mr Zeeshan to the ground on Sydney Rd and landed a flurry of blows to his face and back. After incapacitating Mr Zeeshan and Mr Taj the men stole cash from their wallets. Shocked shoppers and traders called the police and the thugs fled in their car. Mr Zeeshan and Mr Taj were both taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital after the assault. Mr Zeeshan suffered bruising to this back and shoulders while Mr Taj's nose was broken in three places. Mr Malik managed to flee from his attackers and survived the assault relatively unscathed. Mr Taj believed the men were Middle Eastern and all knew how to throw a punch. They were like professional fighters. They knew how to punch, they threw a lot of punches. He said the attack could have been racially motivated. Some people don't like cabbies or maybe it is our skin colour. It could be that we are easy targets. Unfortunately this is not the first time Mr Taj was a victim of an attack in his cab - in 2012 he was held up at knifepoint. But the latest assault means he is now worried to leave his home. If these guys see us again they will attack us again. I won't feel safe until they are arrested. Victoria Police spokeswoman Belinda Batty said police were investigating the assault.