Nihad Awad, national director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, speaks to the media during a news conference at the National Press Building in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 21, 2015. Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The authorities are investigating a few strong leads following the destruction of a Central Florida mosque by an unknown vandal, WTSP-TV reports. Muslim leaders want federal authorities to investigate the incident—in which the vandal wrecked the mosque with a machete before leaving bacon near the front door—as a hate crime.
Surveillance footage show someone breaking into the mosque in Titusville and shattering the lights, windows and cameras with a machete. The vandal then put the bacon by the front door, apparently as a taunt, since Muslims are forbidden from eating pork.
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This is just the latest in a series of attacks against mosques across the nation. Just last week, in California, a Molotov cocktail exploded at a mosque, while a similar bacon incident occurred at a Nevada mosque. Since November, the news station notes, at least four incidents have been reported at or near mosques in Florida alone.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called 2015 the year with a record number of attacks and threats against Muslim places of worship, WTSP-TV notes.
