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Piastri’s stance has knock-on effects for other teams

Piastri's stance has knock-on effects for other teams

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) – Oscar Piastri’s rift with Alpine has also forced a change of plan at Williams and could have a knock-on effect around the Formula One paddock.

While the main focus has been on Renault-owned Alpine and McLaren, who both want the 21-year-old Australian to drive for them next season, tail-enders Williams have had to reassess their next step.

Alpine’s original plan was to loan their reserve, and last year’s Formula Two champion, to Williams for at least a year and possibly more until he returned as Fernando Alonso’s replacement.

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The principle was the same as when Mercedes placed George Russell for three seasons at Williams to learn the ropes before bringing him back as team mate to seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Talks were so far advanced that the Australian had a seat fitting at Williams and a contract for 2023 was drawn up between the two teams, with Alpine having already agreed on Piastri’s salary.

Then Alonso decided to race for Aston Martin next year and Piastri, offered the Alpine seat, said no — with a McLaren deal apparently more tempting. read more

Piastri would have replaced Canadian Nicholas Latifi at Williams, the only driver on the starting grid who has yet to score a point in 13 races this season, alongside British-born Thai Alexander Albon.

Latifi brings sponsorship and could potentially retain the seat, with many of the potential replacements lacking such financial clout.

With Alpine currently fourth in the championship and Williams last, the seat spurned by Piastri is the most attractive.

If Alpine do not take McLaren’s soon-to-be-discarded Australian Daniel Ricciardo, then they may be in the same market as Williams.

One possibility who stands out is current Formula E champion and 2019 Formula Two title-holder Nyck de Vries, a Mercedes F1 reserve who has already taken part in Friday first practice with Williams.

De Vries, 27, is also looking for a seat for 2023, with Mercedes pulling out of Formula E after selling their championship-leading team to McLaren.

Williams have 21-year-old American Logan Sargeant on their books, with team boss Jost Capito saying last month that he saw the F2 driver as a prospect for the future, but it may be too early for him. read more

The future of Mick Schumacher, currently with Ferrari-powered Haas, has yet to be determined while China’s former Alpine academy driver Guanyu Zhou is having a solid first season at Alfa Romeo.

Alfa, run by Swiss-based Sauber with former Renault team boss Fred Vasseur at the helm, have 18-year-old French F2 prospect Theo Pourchaire on their books as a talent for the future.

Beyond that there are racers looking for a way back into Formula One and others, such as India’s Jehan Daruvala, hoping for a door to open from the junior series.

“I’ve had all sorts of people (calling),” Alpine principal Otmar Szafnauer told Reuters this week. “Some of the guys in the junior formulas, some of the Formula E guys. Maybe eight or 10.”

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Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge

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Shock, shame among some Muslims as Afghan accused of New Mexico murders

Afghan Muslim arrested for killings that shook New Mexico's Islamic community

Participants in an interfaith memorial ceremony enter the New Mexico Islamic Center mosque to commemorate four murdered Muslim men, hours after police said they had arrested a prime suspect in the killings, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, US August 9, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Hay

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ALBUQUERQUE, NM, Aug 10 (Reuters) – Muslims in New Mexico interviewed on Wednesday said they felt shock and shame at the arrest of a Muslim immigrant from Afghanistan in connection with the murders of four Muslim men.

Police on Tuesday said they detained 51-year-old Muhammad Syed. A motive for the killings remains unclear, but police said he may have acted on personal grudges, possibly with intra-Muslim sectarian overtones.

Syed denied being involved with any of the four killings when questioned by police, according to the New York Times.

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“We’re in complete total disbelief. Speechless. You know, kind of embarrassed to say he was one of our own,” said Mula Akbar, an Afghan-American businessman who said he had helped Syed settle in the city.

“His hatred of Shi’ites might have had something to do with it,” Akbar said.

Syed was from the Sunni branch of Islam and prayed together at Albuquerque’s Islamic Center of New Mexico (ICNM) mosque with most of the victims, three of whom were from the Shi’ite branch of Islam. All four victims were of Afghan or Pakistani descent. One was killed in November, the other three in the last two weeks.

Syed, who made his first appearance in court Wednesday, was formally charged with killing Aftab Hussein, 41, on July 26 and Muhammed Afzaal Hussain, 27, on Aug. 1.

Police said on Tuesday they were working with prosecutors on potential charges for the murders of Naeem Hussain, 25, a truck driver killed on Friday, and Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, shot dead on Nov. 7, 2021, outside the grocery store he ran with his brother in southeast Albuquerque.

It was not immediately clear if Syed had retained a lawyer.

Police declined to comment on rumors Syed was angry one of his daughters had eloped and married a Shi’ite man.

The daughter told CNN that her husband was friends with two of the men who were killed, Aftab Hussein and Naeem Hussain. The woman, who CNN did not name out of concern for her safety, said her father was not happy when she married in 2018 but had become accepting more recently.

“My father is not a person who can kill somebody. My father has always talked about peace. That’s why we are here in the United States. We came from Afghanistan, from fighting, from shooting,” she told CNN.

Palestinian-American Samia Assed said the Muslim community of around 4,000 in Albuquerque had worked to do to prevent violence they left behind in countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“This took me back to 9/11 when I just wanted to hide under a rock,” said the human rights activist after she hosted an interfaith memorial at the ICNM, Albuquerque’s oldest and largest mosque.

“For this to happen it’s like setting us back 100 years,” she said.

The mosque is nonsectarian, serves mainly Sunnis from over 30 countries and has never before experienced violence of this kind, according to congregants interviewed by Reuters.

Syed is a truck driver, has six children, is from Pashtun ethnicity and arrived in the United States as a refugee about six years ago from Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province, said Akbar, a former US diplomat who worked on Afghan issues and helped found the Afghan Society of New Mexico.

Syed developed a record of criminal misdemeanors over the last three or four years, including a case of domestic violence, police said.

Video from February 2020 showed him slashing the tires of a vehicle at the ICNM believed to be owned by the family of the first known victim, Ahmadi, according to the mosque’s president, attorney Ahmad Assed.

“We’re in a surreal time trying to make sense of these senseless killings we’ve suffered,” he said.

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Reporting by Andrew Hay in Albuquerque; Editing by Donna Bryson, Howard Goller and Rosalba O’Brien

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China withdraws promise not to send troops to Taiwan if it takes control of island

China withdraws promise not to send troops to Taiwan if it takes control of island

Troops in military vehicles take part in the military parade marking the 70th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, on its National Day in Beijing, China October 1, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

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BEIJING, Aug 10 (Reuters) – China has withdrawn a promise not to send troops or administrators to Taiwan if it takes control of the island, an official document showed on Wednesday, signaling a decision by President Xi Jinping to grant less autonomy than previously offered .

China’s white paper on its position on self-ruled Taiwan follows days of unprecedented Chinese military exercises near the island, which Beijing claims as its territory, in protest against US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit last week. read more

China had said in two previous white papers on Taiwan, in 1993 and 2000, that it “will not send troops or administrative personnel to be based in Taiwan” after achieving what Beijing terms “reunification”.

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That line, meant to assure Taiwan it would enjoy autonomy after becoming a special administrative region of China, did not appear in the latest white paper.

China’s ruling Communist Party had proposed that Taiwan could return to its rule under a “one country, two systems” model, similar to the formula under which the former British colony of Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

That would offer some autonomy to democratically ruled Taiwan to partially preserve its social and political systems.

All mainstream Taiwanese political parties have rejected the “one country, two systems” proposal and it enjoys almost no public support according to opinion polls. Taiwan’s government says only the island’s people can decide their future.

A line in the 2000 white paper that said “anything can be negotiated” as long as Taiwan accepts that there is only one China and does not seek independence, is also missing from the latest white paper.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council condemned the white paper, saying it was “full of lies of wishful thinking and disregarded the facts” and that the Republic of China – Taiwan’s official name – was a sovereign state.

“Only Taiwan’s 23 million people have the right to decide on the future of Taiwan, and they will never accept an outcome set by an autocratic regime.”

The updated white paper is called “The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era.” The “new era” is a term commonly associated with Xi’s rule. Xi is expected to secure a third term at a Communist Party congress later this year.

Taiwan has lived under the threat of Chinese invasion since 1949, when the defeated Republic of China government fled to the island after Mao Zedong’s Communist Party won a civil war.

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Reporting by Yew Lun Tian; Editing by Robert Birsel and Raju Gopalakrishnan

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Afghan Muslim arrested for killings that shook New Mexico’s Islamic community

Afghan Muslim arrested for killings that shook New Mexico's Islamic community

ALBUQUERQUE, NM, Aug 9 (Reuters) – A Muslim immigrant from Afghanistan has been arrested as the prime suspect in the serial killings of four Muslim men that rattled the Islamic community of New Mexico’s largest city, police said on Tuesday.

After days bolstering security around Albuquerque-area mosques, seeking to allay fears of a shooter driven by anti-Muslim hate, police said on Tuesday they had arrested 51-year-old Muhammad Syed, one among the city’s Islamic immigrant community.

Authorities said the killings may have been rooted in a personal grudge, possibly with intra-Muslim sectarian overtones.

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All four victims were of Afghan or Pakistani descent. One was killed in November, and the other three in the last two weeks.

A search of the suspect’s Albuquerque home uncovered “evidence that shows the offender knew the victims to some extent, and an inter-personal conflict may have led to the shootings,” police said in a statement announcing the arrest.

Investigators are still piecing together motives for the killings of the four men, Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock of the Albuquerque Police Department said at a news conference.

In response to reporters’ questions, Hartsock said sectarian animus by the suspect toward his fellow Muslim victims may have played a role in the violence. “But we’re not really clear if that was the actual motive, or if it was part of a motive, or if there is just a bigger picture that we’re missing,” he said.

Syed has a record of criminal misdemeanors in the United States, including a case of domestic violence, over the last three or four years, Hartsock said.

Police credited scores of tips from the public in helping investigators locate a car that detectives believed was used in at least one of the killings and ultimately track down the man they called their “primary suspect” in all four slayings.

Syed was formally charged with two of the homicides: those of Aftab Hussein, 41, and Muhammed Afzaal Hussain, 27, killed on July 26 and Aug. 1, respectively, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina told the briefing.

Participants in an interfaith memorial ceremony enter the New Mexico Islamic Center mosque to commemorate four murdered Muslim men, hours after police said they had arrested a prime suspect in the killings, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, US August 9, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Hay

The latest victim, Nayeem Hussain, 25, a truck driver who became a US citizen on July 8, was killed on Friday, hours after attending the burial of the two men slain in July and August, both of them of Pakistani descent.

The three most recent victims all attended the Islamic Center of New Mexico, Albuquerque’s largest mosque. They were all shot near Central Avenue in southeastern Albuquerque.

The first known victim, Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, a native of Afghanistan, was killed on Nov. 7, 2021, while smoking a cigarette outside a grocery store and cafe that he ran with his brother in the southeastern part of the city.

BULLET CASINGS

Police said the two killings with which Syed was initially charged were tied together based on bullet casings found at the two murder scenes, and the gun used in those shootings was later found in his home.

According to police, detectives were preparing to search Syed’s residence in southeastern Albuquerque on Monday when he drove from the residence in the car that investigators had identified to the public a day earlier as a “vehicle of interest.”

Albuquerque and state authorities have been working to provide extra police presence at mosques during times of prayer as the investigation proceeded in the city, home to as many as 5,000 Muslims out of a total population of 565,000.

The ambush-style shootings of the men have terrified Albuquerque’s Muslim community. Families went into hiding in their homes, and some Pakistani students at the University of New Mexico left town out of fear.

Imtiaz Hussain, whose brother worked as a city planning director and was killed on Aug. 1, said news of the arrest reassured many in the Muslim community.

“My kids asked me, ‘Can we sit on our balcony now?’ and I said, ‘Yes,’ and they said, ‘Can we go out and play now?’ and I said, ‘Yes,'” he said.

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Reporting by Andrew Hay in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Rami Ayyub in Washington; Tyler Clifford in New York and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Cynthia Osterman, Daniel Wallis and Raju Gopalakrishnan

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US

Biden signs documents of US support for Sweden, Finland to join NATO

Biden signs documents of US support for Sweden, Finland to join NATO

WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed documents endorsing Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO, the most significant expansion of the military alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Biden signed the US “instrument of ratification” welcoming the two countries, the final step for their endorsement by the United States.

“It was and is a watershed moment I believe in the alliance and for the greater security and stability not only of Europe and the United States but of the world,” he said of their entry into the post World War Two alliance.

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The US Senate backed the expansion by an overwhelming 95-1 last week, a rare display of bipartisan unity in a bitterly divided Washington. Both Democratic and Republican Senators strongly approved membership for the two Nordic countries, describing them as important allies whose modern militaries already worked closely with NATO. read more

The vote was a sharp contrast with some rhetoric in Washington during the administration of former Republican President Donald Trump, who pursued an “America First” foreign policy and criticized NATO allies who failed to reach defense spending targets.

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks and signs documents endorsing Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO, in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, US, August 9, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in response to Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly warned both countries against joining the alliance.

Putin is getting “exactly what he did not want,” with the two countries entering the alliance, Biden said.

NATO’s 30 allies signed the accession protocol for Sweden and Finland last month, allowing them to join the nuclear-armed alliance once all member states ratify the decision. read more

The accession must be ratified by the parliaments of all 30 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members before Finland and Sweden can be protected by Article Five, the defense clause stating that an attack on one ally is an attack on all.

Ratification could take up to a year, although the accession has already been approved by a few countries including Canada, Germany and Italy.

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Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Jeff Mason Editing by Mark Heinrich and Grant McCool

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No change in US assessment on China timeline for Taiwan, official says

No change in US assessment on China timeline for Taiwan, official says

WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Washington has not changed its assessment on China’s timeline for potentially taking Taiwan militarily, a senior Pentagon official said on Monday, sticking by previous statements that Beijing would not try to take it in the next two years.

China announced new military drills around Taiwan on Monday, drawing concern from US President Joe Biden, a day after the scheduled end of Beijing’s largest military exercises in the area to protest last week’s visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Asked if the Pentagon’s assessment that China would not try to retake Taiwan militarily in the next two years had changed since Pelosi’s trip, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said: “No.”

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“Clearly the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is trying to coerce Taiwan, clearly they’re trying to coerce the international community and all I’ll say is we’re not going to take the bait and it’s not going to work,” Kahl said.

In November, the top US general said China was unlikely to try to militarily seize Taiwan in the next couple of years, even as its military develops capabilities that would enable forcibly retaking the self-ruled island.

Officials have privately said that they do not believe China will even be militarily ready to fully take Taiwan by 2027.

“Clearly what they’re trying to do is salami slice their way into a new status quo,” Kahl said.

Pelosi’s visit infuriated China, which responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, as well as by ditching some lines of dialogue with Washington, including on military and climate change issues.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said China, which claims the self-ruled island as its own, was deliberately creating crises. It demanded Beijing “pull back from the edge.”

Kahl said the US military would carry out passages through the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks.

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Reporting by Idrees Ali and Christopher Gallagher; Editing by Chris Gallagher, John Stonestreet and David Gregorio

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Idrees Ali

Thomson Reuters

National security correspondent focusing on the Pentagon in Washington DC Reports on US military activity and operations throughout the world and the impact they have. You have reported from over two dozen countries to include Iraq, Afghanistan, and much of the Middle East, Asia and Europe. From Karachi, Pakistan.

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Taiwanese foreign minister says China drills part of a game-plan for invasion

Taiwanese foreign minister says China drills part of a game-plan for invasion

TAIPEI, Aug 9 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that China was using the military drills it launched in protest against US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit as a game-plan to prepare for an invasion of the self-ruled island.

Joseph Wu, speaking at a press conference in Taipei, offered no time-table for a possible invasion of Taiwan, which is claimed by China as its own.

He said Taiwan would not be intimidated even as the drills continued with China often breaching the unofficial median line down the Taiwan Strait.

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“China has used the drills in its military play-book to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan,” Wu said.

“It is conducting large-scale military exercises and missile launches, as well as cyberattacks, disinformation, and economic coercion, in an attempt to weaken public morale in Taiwan.

“After the drills conclude, China may try to routinize its action in an attempt to wreck the long-term status quo across the Taiwan Strait,” Wu said.

Such moves threatened regional security and provided “a clear image of China’s geostrategic ambitions beyond Taiwan”, Wu said, urging greater international support to stop China effectively controlling the strait.

A Pentagon official said on Monday that Washington was sticking to its assessment that China would not try to invade Taiwan for the next two years. read more

Wu spoke as military tensions simmer after the scheduled end on Sunday of four days of the largest-ever Chinese exercises surrounding the island – drills that included ballistic missile launches and simulated sea and air attacks in the skies and seas surrounding Taiwan.

China’s Eastern Theater Command announced on Monday that it would conduct fresh joint drills focusing on anti-submarine and sea assault operations – confirming the fears of some security analysts and diplomats that Beijing would keep up the pressure on Taiwan’s defences.

A person familiar with security planning in the areas around Taiwan described to Reuters on Tuesday a continuing “standoff” around the median line involving about 10 warships each from China and Taiwan.

“China continued to try to press in to the median line,” the person said. “Taiwan forces there have been trying to keep the international waterways open.”

As Pelosi left the region last Friday, China also ditched some lines of communication with the United States, including theater level military talks and discussions on climate change.

Taiwan started its own long-scheduled drills on Tuesday, firing howitzer artillery out to sea in the southern county of Pingtung.

US President Joe Biden, in his first public comments on the issue since Pelosi’s visit, said on Monday he was concerned about China’s actions in the region but he was not worried about Taiwan. read more

“I’m concerned they are moving as much as they are,” Biden told reporters in Delaware, referring to China. “But I don’t think they’re going to do anything more than they are.”

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl also said the US military would continue to carry out voyages through the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks.

China has never ruled out taking Taiwan by force and on Monday Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that China was conducting normal military exercises “in our waters” in an open, transparent and professional way, adding Taiwan was part of China.

Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only the Taiwanese people can decide the island’s future.

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Reporting by Sarah Wu and Yimou Lee in Taipei; Writing by Greg Torode, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

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China announces fresh military drills around Taiwan

China announces fresh military drills around Taiwan

TAIPEI, Aug 8 (Reuters) – China’s military announced fresh military drills on Monday in the seas and airspace around Taiwan – a day after the scheduled end of its largest ever exercises to protest against last week’s visit to Taipei by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

China’s Eastern Theater Command said it would conduct joint drills focusing on anti-submarine and sea assault operations – confirming the fears of some security analysts and diplomats that Beijing would continue to maintain pressure on Taiwan’s defences.

Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week infuriated China, which regards the self-ruled island as its own and responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, as well as ditching some lines of dialogue with Washington.

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The duration and precise location of the latest drills is not yet known, but Taiwan has already eased flight restrictions near the six earlier Chinese exercise areas surrounding the island.

Shortly before the latest drills were announced, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met visiting St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, telling him she was moved by his determination to visit despite China’s military pressure. read more

“Prime Minister Gonsalves has expressed in recent days that the Chinese military drills would not prevent him from visiting friends in Taiwan. These statements have deeply touched us,” Tsai said at a welcome ceremony for Gonsalves in Taipei.

It was unclear if Tsai had invited Gonsalves before or after Pelosi’s visit. “We don’t disclose internal planning or communications between governments,” the Taiwanese foreign ministry said when asked by Reuters.

Beyond the firing of 11 short-range ballistic missiles during the four earlier days of exercises, Chinese warships, fighter jets and drones maneuvered extensively around the island.

Shortly before those drills ended on Sunday, about 10 warships each from China and Taiwan maneuvered at close quarters around the unofficial median line of the Taiwan Strait, according to a person familiar with the situation who is involved with security planning.

MILITARY TALKS SHELVED

Taiwan’s defense ministry said Chinese military ships, aircraft, and drones had simulated attacks on the island and its navy. It said it had sent aircraft and ships to react “appropriately”.

China’s defense ministry meanwhile maintained its diplomatic pressure on the United States, defending its shelving of military-to-military talks in protest at Pelosi’s visit.

“The current tense situation in the Taiwan Strait is entirely provoked and created by the US side on its own initiative, and the US side must bear full responsibility and serious consequences for this,” defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in an online post.

“The bottom line cannot be broken, and communication requires sincerity,” Wu said.

China called off formal talks involving theatre-level commands, defense policy co-ordination and military maritime consultations on Friday as Pelosi left the region.

Pentagon, State Department and White House officials condemned the move, describing it as an irresponsible over-reaction.

China’s cutting of some of its few communication links with the US military raises the risk of an accidental escalation over Taiwan at a critical moment, according to security analysts and diplomats. read more

One US official noted that Chinese officials had not responded to calls from senior Pentagon officials amid the tensions last week, but that they did not see this as a formal severing of ties with senior figures, such as US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Asked directly about those reports, defense ministry spokesman Wu said, “China’s relevant counter-measures are a necessary warning to the provocations of the United States and Taiwan, and a legitimate defense of national sovereignty and security.”

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Reporting by Beijing Newsroom and Sarah Wu in Taipei; writing by Greg Torode. Editing by Gerry Doyle and Raju Gopalakrishnan

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New Mexico police seek public’s help in probe of four Muslim slayings

New Mexico police seek public's help in probe of four Muslim slayings

Aug 7 (Reuters) – Police in New Mexico on Sunday asked for the public’s help in locating a “vehicle of interest” in their probe of four fatal shootings of Muslim men whose slayings in Albuquerque over the past nine months are believed by investigators to be related.

Mayor Tim Keller said state authorities were working to provide an “extra police presence at mosques during times of prayer” as the investigation proceeds in New Mexico’s largest city, home to as many as 5,000 Muslims out of some 565,000 total residents.

The latest victim, police said, was gunned down on Friday night, in a killing that local Islamic leaders said occurred shortly after he had attended funeral services for two others slain during the past couple of weeks.

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All three of those men, as well as the very first victim who was shot dead in November, were Muslim men of Pakistani or Afghan descent who resided in Albuquerque.

Police have given few details of the latest murder but described the first three killings as ambush shootings. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has characterized them as “targeted killings of Muslim residents.”

US President Joe Biden posted a message on Twitter on Sunday expressing solidarity with the Muslim community, adding, “These hateful attack have no place in America.”

Albuquerque police officials told a news conference hours later that they were following a number of leads and issued a bulletin with photos of a four-door, dark gray Volkswagen sedan with tinted windows that they described as a “vehicle of interest” in the investigation.

It was left unclear how the car was tied to the case, and police said they had yet to determine whether they were seeking one or more suspects in the investigation.

Mayor of Albuquerque Tim Keller speaks to the public during an event to mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Albuquerque, New Mexico, US, October 11, 2021. REUTERS/Mostafa Bassim

The three latest victims belonged to the same mosque, according to Tahir Gauba, a spokesperson for the Islamic Center of New Mexico. Officials were withholding the identity of the man killed on Friday pending notification of next of kin.

But Gauba said he was killed shortly after attending the funeral for the two previous victims.

Muhammed Afzaal Hussain, 27, a planning director for the city of Espanola who immigrated from Pakistan, was shot dead on Aug. 1 outside his apartment complex, less than a week after Aftab Hussein, 41, from Albuquerque’s large Afghan community, was found slain on July 26 near the city’s international district, police said. Hussain also worked on the campaign team for US Representative Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico.

Police said they were treating those two slayings, along with Friday’s killing, as linked to the Nov. 7 murder of 62-year-old Mohammad Ahmadi, also a Muslim from Afghanistan, who was shot to death in a parking lot outside a halal supermarket and coffee.

“There are several things in common with all four of the homicides,” city police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos told reporters on Sunday.

Asked whether investigators consider the killings to be hate crimes, Gallegos said, “Hate is determined by motive, and we don’t know that motive at this point.”

Gauba estimated there are 3,000 to 5,000 Muslims living in and around Albuquerque, accounting for about 85% of the entire state’s Islamic population.

New Mexico State Police, the FBI and the US Marshals Service are among the agencies assisting in the investigation.

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Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Edwina Gibbs

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Fourth Muslim man murdered in New Mexico in ‘targeted killings’

Fourth Muslim man murdered in New Mexico in 'targeted killings'

Houses reach the edge of the desert on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico, US, July 5, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

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Aug 6 (Reuters) – Police in New Mexico and federal agencies were probing the murders of four Muslim men to determine if the killings, the latest of which happened on Friday evening, were linked while the state’s governor described them as “targeted killings.”

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina told reporters on Saturday that a “young man who is part of the Muslim community was murdered.”

The victim’s name and the circumstances of the murder were not disclosed. In the previous three cases, the victims were ambushed and shot without warning, police said.

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Medina said the killing was possibly linked to the previous three murders.

Police in New Mexico had said earlier that the other three Muslim men murdered in the state’s largest city in the past nine months appeared to have been targeted for their religion and race. read more

“The targeted killings of Muslim residents of Albuquerque is deeply angering and wholly intolerable,” New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham tweeted late on Saturday. She also said she was deploying extra state police officers to Albuquerque to assist in the investigation.

Two of those murdered men were members of the same mosque, who were shot dead in Albuquerque in late July and early August. Police said there was a “strong possibility” their deaths were connected to the November killing of an Afghan immigrant.

Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, a planning director for the city of Espanola who came to the United States from Pakistan, was shot dead on Monday outside his Albuquerque apartment complex while Aftab Hussein, 41, was found dead of gunshot wounds on July 26 near the Albuquerque’s international district.

Those deaths are likely linked to the shooting of 62-year-old Mohammad Ahmadi in a parking lot by a halal supermarket and cafe on Nov. 7 last year, police said.

New Mexico State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Marshals Service are among several agencies involved in probing the murders.

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Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

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