Muslim imam, assistant killed in New York
A Muslim imam and his assistant have been shot and killed while walking home from afternoon prayers at a mosque in the New York City borough of Queens.
The men were shot in the head on Saturday on a street in the Ozone Park section of Queens, just one block from the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid (mosque), according to witnesses and authorities.
Imam Alala Uddin Akongi was a revered religious leader since his arrival in the city from Bangladesh about two years ago.
His assistant, 64-year-old Thara Uddin, was critically injured and later on succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
Both victims were dressed in Muslim garb when they were attacked, and members of the mosque denounced the attack as a hate crime.
The attacker shot each man in the head at close range and fled the scene on foot.
“That’s not what America is about,” said local resident Khairul Islam, 33. “We blame Donald Trump for this ... Trump and his drama has created Islamophobia.”
Police say they responded to reports of the shooting at 2:00 p.m. Saturday in Ozone Park.
A large number of Muslims gathered at the murder scene, denouncing the shooting as a hate crime.
US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign has been marred by his disparaging remarks against minorities in the US. His comments include a call to ban all Muslims from coming to America as well as forced deportation of Mexican migrants by building a long wall along the US-Mexico border.
He has also been seeking a database to track Muslims across the United States and said that the US would have "absolutely no choice" but to close down mosques.
Trump’s proposal has been condemned by Muslims and human rights groups as well as his Democratic rivals and many of his Republican proponents who describe it as divisive, counterproductive and contrary to American values.
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