Egypt’s Al-Azhar denounces stabbing of Muslim worshipper in French mosque

ISTANBUL

Egypt’s Al-Azhar, a leading Islamic institution, condemned on Sunday the stabbing and killing of a Muslim worshipper in a southern France mosque, warning of escalating “white terrorism” in Europe and the US.

Aboubakar Cisse, 24, was stabbed to death on Friday at Hatice Mosque in the town of La Grand-Combe, Gard region.

The attacker stabbed the worshipper dozens of times, and filmed the assault on a phone while shouting insults against Islam.

Al-Azhar denounced the “terrorist incident” perpetrated by an anti-Islam assailant. It cautioned against the growing activities of “white supremacist groups” who use “deceptive slogans like white nationalism to justify heinous crimes against Muslims.”

The statement urged a global security strategy to counter this terrorist trend and protect Muslim lives.

Investigators said they were treating the killing as a possible Islamophobic crime. The suspect is still at large.