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Muhammad Syed can be suspected in a fourth killing, in murders that resonated throughout the US Muslim group.
A person has been charged with a 3rd killing in a string of assaults on Muslims within the US state of New Mexico, which unfold fears of spiritual and sectarian hatred throughout the nation.
Muhammad Syed, 51, had beforehand been charged with two of the killings – that of café worker Aftab Hussein, who was killed on July 26, and metropolis planning director Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, who was killed on August 1.
When Syed was charged on August 9, he was additionally thought of the primary suspect in two different killings.
On Monday, he was charged with the August 5 killing of trucking enterprise proprietor Naeem Hussain after proof from cellphones linked him to the ambush-style assault.
He stays a main suspect in a fourth homicide of grocery retailer and café proprietor Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, which occurred in November 2021. Syed has denied involvement.
The killings initially sparked fears throughout the US that an attacker was concentrating on Muslims primarily based on their faith, with US President Joe Biden saying the assaults “don’t have any place in America”.
The arrest of Syed, a refugee from Afghanistan who has lived within the US for 5 years, then prompted hypothesis that the killings might have been motivated by Sunni-Shia divisions, with a number of nationwide Muslim associations condemning the potential “sectarian hatred”.
Syed is Sunni and three of the victims are Shia. The alleged attacker had reportedly beforehand taken difficulty along with his daughter’s resolution to marry a Shia man.
Nonetheless, native Muslim leaders in New Mexico have cautioned in opposition to characterising the killings as motivated by sectarianism. They’ve expressed fears that an oversimplification of the state of affairs might result in mistrust amongst Shia and Sunni communities, who pray collectively on the Islamic Heart of New Mexico, Albuquerque’s essential mosque.
Individuals who knew each the victims and Syed have mentioned the killings have been doubtless related extra to private feuds or revenge.
Investigators, whereas not but figuring out a motive, have beforehand mentioned “an interpersonal battle” might have led to the violence.
Syed’s son Shaheen additionally stays in federal custody on prices he offered false data to investigators concerning the weapons and automobile used within the assaults.
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