By Islam Dogru
NEW YORK (AA) – Three Palestinian students were attacked by gunmen in the US state of Vermont Saturday night, an official said on Sunday.
“Three young Palestinian men, Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ali and Kenan Abdulhamid, students at Brown and other US universities, were shot last night on their way to a family dinner in Burlington, USA.
“Their crime? Wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh. They are critically injured,” said Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian Mission in the UK, on the social media platform X.
“The hate crimes against Palestinians must stop,” he urged.
Police in the city of Burlington said that they received a report of a shooting attack on Saturday evening and found three university students injured at the scene.
Local media reported that the students were receiving treatment at Vermont Medical Hospital and that they were not in any life-threatening condition.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil society organization in the US, announced a reward of $10,000 for those who will provide information for the arrest of the perpetrator or perpetrators of the attack.
CAIR has called on state and federal law enforcement agencies in Vermont to investigate a possible bias motive in connection with the shooting.
Police are searching for perpetrators of the shooting attack.
*Writing by Merve Berker