Police in the US state of New Mexico said on Saturday they were investigating a possible link between the killings of three Muslims and that of another Muslim man last year, raising voices denouncing the crimes as racially motivated.
Albuquerque police said in a statement that the body of a fourth victim was found overnight from Friday to Saturday. She did not identify him, but said he was in his twenties, Muslim and “South Asian.”
“Investigators believe this murder may be linked to three recent murders of Muslim men also from South Asia,” the statement said.
Among these victims, two are Pakistani, one was 27 years old when his body was found on August 1, and the other 41, whose body was found on July 26, both this year.
The FBI participates in the investigation
Detectives are now investigating whether these killings are related to the death of an Afghan man who was killed on November 7, 2021 outside the business he ran with his brother in Albuquerque, the statement details.
Police ordered anyone with information to call a hotline and said the FBI was assisting in the investigation.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed outrage at the attacks and said she stood in solidarity with the Muslim community in the southwestern US state.
“The targeted killings of Albuquerque’s Muslim residents arouse deep anger and are completely intolerable,” Michelle Lujan Grisham tweeted.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights group in the United States, announced Saturday that it is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who provides information leading to the suspect’s arrest.
“This tragedy affects not only the Muslim community, but all Americans,” said Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR. “We must stand united against hate and violence, regardless of the race, religion or origin of the victims and perpetrators.”
Source: BFM TV
