Three Miami area mosques vandalized in past three days
In the past three days, obscene graffiti was written on the sign of a center in Miami, another mosque in Miami had severe damage both inside and out and a threatening letter was left at a mosque in Hollywood in Broward County, said Altaf Ali, Florida director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The letter, which read “Kill them all in the name of Allah,'' was found at the Darul Uloom mosque Thursday morning, Ali said.
On Tuesday at Masjid Al-Ihsan mosque, the front door and windows were broken, telephone and electrical lines were cut and the alarm system was destroyed, Ali said. Vandals wrote curse words and scrawled a swastika on the sign of the Islamic School of Miami on Wednesday night, he said.
Police reports have been filed for all the incidents, he said.
“Based on our experience, whenever we see there's a major incident in the Middle East, there's a certain level of repercussions against Muslims in the United States,” he said.
This week, a videotape posted on an al-Qaida-related Web site showed 26-year-old American Nicholas Berg being decapitated by hooded, armed men. The telecommunication businessman's headless body was found Saturday in western Baghdad.
The FBI has not yet received an official request from CAIR, FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said Thursday.
“We do anticipate repercussions,'' Ali said. “Incidents like this will increase unless law enforcement takes strong action against it.''
Miami-Dade County police officials would not discuss security plans Thursday. Hollywood police did not return a phone call.
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