Muslim men targeted and killed in New Mexico

In all three cases victims were ambushed and shot without warning

The murders of three Muslim men in New Mexico's largest city in the past nine months were likely linked and they appear to have been targeted for their religion and race, Qazet.az reports according to police.

Two members of the same mosque were shot dead in Albuquerque in the last ten days and there is a "strong possibility" their deaths are connected to the November killing of an Afghan immigrant, according to a city police official.

In all three cases victims were ambushed and shot without warning, city police said.

“There’s one strong commonality in all of our victims — their race and religion,” Albuquerque police Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock told a Thursday press briefing, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper.

Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, a planning director for the city of Española who came to the United States from Pakistan, was shot dead on Monday outside his Albuquerque apartment complex, police said.