The killing of a 75-year-old man stabbed to death yards from his home could have been racially-motivated, police have said.
Mohammed Saleem was knifed in the back three times as he returned from his local mosque in Birmingham on Monday night.
The father of seven, who walked with a stick, was attacked with such force that the blows penetrated the front of his body.
The possibility that the attack was racially motivated is “a significant line of inquiry”, said Detective Superintendent Mark Payne of West Midland Police.
Mr Saleem had no defensive wounds after what Mr Payne called a “swift, vicious” and “cowardly” attack.
Officers want to trace a white man, aged 25 to 32, of medium height and build and wearing a beanie-style hat, spotted running near the scene of the attack just before 10.30pm.
They also want to track down a seven-seat people carrier captured on CCTV driving near the mosque.
The two white male occupants in their 30s are considered “significant witnesses”, said West Midlands Police.
In a family appeal on Thursday, two of Mr Saleem’s daughters – Shazia Khan, 45, and Nazia Maqsood, 44 – called for the attacker to hand themselves in.
They tearfully described Mr Saleem as a “widely respected member of the community” and “much-loved father”.
“We can’t express our feelings of sadness and devastation,” they added. “It’s hard to accept that our beloved father and grandfather has been taken from us in such a brutal way.”
source: www.skynews.com
Tags: attack, killing, Pensioner, racist
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