Arab-Americans and Muslims assaulted

Following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Arab-American, Muslim and Sikh leaders have reported assaults against their people in the US.

Mosque windows were shattered in Texas, a New York man was arrested for an alleged anti-Arab threat, and a prison fight broke out over Muslim slurs in Washington.

Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is urging people not to play into the hands of the terrorists.

In Suffolk County, New York, a man was arrested for allegedly making an anti-Arab threat and pointing a handgun at a petrol station worker.

In Texas, at least six bullets shattered windows at the Islamic Centre of Irving. Police say windows at the Islamic Centre of Carrollton were also broken.

Authorities there and in several other areas are unsure whether the threats were related to the terrorist attacks.

In Asbury, New Jersey, Ramandeep Singh, a Sikh said he had rubbish and stones thrown at his car and stayed home from work.

In a Washington prison, a fight broke out during television reports of the attacks. A sheriff's spokesman said that one inmate loudly criticised Muslims and then a Muslim inmate threw him to the floor, causing a brain haemorrhage.

At the Kuwait Embassy in Washington, Tamara Alfson has been counselling frightened Kuwaiti students attending schools across the US.

Hate messages and insults were left on the answering machine of the Manassas Mosque in Virginia, said director Abu Nahidian.