Mosques in the New Jersey area are receiving threats following this week’s terror attack in New York City, according to the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Islamic Center of Passaic County, the region’s most influential mosque, has received at least eight threats, forcing them to increase security for their over 25,000 congregants. The mosque’s Friday prayer draws over 2,000 people alone.
Another mosque in New Jersey, Masjid Omar Mosque, has also received threats after rumors that Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, the suspect in the terror attack, may have gone to worship there, according to NBC News.
CAIR’s New Jersey chapter called on federal authorities to investigate the threats as hate crimes, they said in a statement Thursday.
Saipov killed eight people on Tuesday when he ran a rented truck into pedestrians in Lower Manhattan. He had pledged allegiance to ISIS after planning the attack for months.
CAIR, the country’s largest Muslim civil rights group, called the incident a “cowardly attack.” The organization offered its “sincere condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured.”
“Since the goal of such heinous crimes is to divide our nation, it is incumbent on Americans of all faiths and backgrounds to frustrate that criminal objective by standing united in the face of terror,” CAIR said in a statement.