US imam shot dead outside Newark mosque: Police

NEW York (AFP): An imam who was shot on Wednesday outside a mosque near New York has died, a US official told AFP.

Police in the city of Newark, New Jersey, did not give a motive for the incident.

“Hassan Sharif was a Transportation Security Officer at Newark Liberty International Airport since 2006,” said Lisa Farbstein, a spokeswoman for the United States Transportation Security Administration where Sharif worked.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of his passing and send our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.”

Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Frage had earlier confirmed “police responded to a call of a male shot” Wednesday morning.

Officers confirmed that the man was the imam, and that the incident happened outside a mosque. An investigation is underway.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, there has been an increase in Islamophobic and anti-Semitic attacks across the United States.

Images published by the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) showed police vehicles deployed outside the Masjid Muhammad-Newark mosque, a two-story yellow and green complex.