Suspect questioned in New York slaying of Muslim imam

[August 16, 2016]    NEW YORK (Reuters) - A suspect being questioned in the killing of a Muslim imam and his associate in New York City over the weekend was arrested on Monday on charges related to a hit-and-run traffic accident on the day of the murders, police officials said.

The suspect, who police described at a briefing as an Hispanic man, was being questioned about the fatal shootings of Imam Maulama Akonjee and Thara Uddin on Saturday after they left a mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens.

A sketch of a suspect in the shooting of Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, hangs on a street sign across from Al-Furqan Jame Mosque, where the two victims had been worshipping on Saturday afternoon before the shooting, in New York, August 14, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Prentice

Officials declined to give the name of the suspect or to comment on a suspected motive for the killings.

(Reporting by Frank McGurty; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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