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New York: Lone gunman kills Muslim cleric, associate

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 According to police authorities, a lone gunman killed a Muslim cleric and his associate who were walking together in the New York City borough of Queens after afternoon prayers at a mosque.
Reports say the victims, Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, were both wearing religious garb at the time of shooting and the motive for the attack was not immediately known.
Spokeswoman for the New York City Police Department, Tiffany Phillips, said police were not ruling out any possibility as no evidence has been uncovered that the two men were targeted because of their faith, adding that no arrests had been made yet.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group known by the acronym CAIR, said Uddin was an associate of the imam.
“These were two very beloved people,” Afaf Nasher, executive director of the New York chapter of CAIR, told Reuters. “These were community leaders.
“There is a deep sense of mourning and an overwhelming cry for justice to be served,” Nasher said. “There is a very loud cry, too, for the NYPD to investigate fully, with the total amount of their resources, the incident that happened today.”
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