Bangladeshi woman killed in New York
A Bangladeshi woman was stabbed to death about a block and a half away from her home in Queens, New York, Wednesday (local time).
Nazma Khanam, 60, a Bangladeshi expatriate, was walking at 160th Street and Normal Road in Jamaica Hills about 9:00pm (local time) when she was stabbed, during what sources claimed an attempted robbery, reports PIX11 News.
She was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Nazma's family believes her death could have been a hate crime because the victim was wearing traditional Muslim clothing when she was attacked. Police are not categorising it as such, according to PIX11 News.
The killing came hard on the heels of the killing of a Bangladeshi imam and his assistant in New York on August 13. The two Bangladeshi expatriates were Alauddin Akonjee, 55, imam of Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in Ozone Park, and his associate Tara Uddin, 64.
Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce, who arrived at the scene about 7:00am yesterday (NY time), said there was nothing to indicate this incident was a hate crime, reports PIX11 News.
Still, the Muslim community in Queens has been on edge since the execution-style killing of an imam and his associate. In that case, the victims were wearing religious attire but police have not commented on whether the shootings were a hate crime.
The slayings happened about five miles from where Nazma was killed.
Nazma, wife of Shamsul Alam of Atipara in Shariatpur, was a teacher of Shariatpur Govt Girls School, a correspondent reports from the district citing victim's relatives.
Eanyet Hossain, brother of Nazma, said his sister along with her husband, who was a teacher of Shariatpur Govt College, and one of their sons Naimul Alam left Bangladesh for the US in 2008 and the couple was running a grocery store.
Their two children live in Bangladesh.
Citing relatives in the US, Enayet said miscreants stabbed her when she was returning home from their shop.
“My sister was a good person ... she has no enemy there ... Why was she killed?” Enayet said, adding that the body would be sent to Bangladesh after the completion of legal procedures.
PIX11 News reported that Nazma was reportedly walking ahead of her husband when she was attacked. Her husband was not able to save her in time.
"Her husband was one and a half blocks behind her and he didn't see anything," said Mohammed Rahman, a nephew of the victim.
The NYPD Muslim Officers Society tweeted about the incident, saying Nazma was the aunt of a city transit officer.
“Very sad to announce the death of the aunt of our member PO Kabir #TD2 @NYPDTransit who was stabbed in @NYPD107Pct tonight lets catch the perp,” reads the group's tweet.
Sources said it was unknown if the attacker had made off with any of Nazma's belongings. Her nephew said police told him they did not.
"This neighbourhood, it's never happened like this," Rahman said. "I'm living here, like, six years."
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