Two Muslim women attacked in Tampa

Grayson Kamm | WTSP

Show Caption Hide Caption Two Muslim women attacked in Tampa We're learning about attacks on two Muslim women, right here in the Tampa Bay area. Their attorney says one of the women was shot at, and another one was nearly driven off the road -- both because of their Muslim faith.

We're learning about attacks on two Muslim women, right here in the Tampa Bay area. Their attorney says one of the women was shot at, and another one was nearly driven off the road -- both because of their Muslim faith.

The women were targeted as they were leaving the places where they worship, according to the Florida chapter of CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

An attorney from CAIR says the women were leaving mosques and wearing scarves over their heads -- a traditional Muslim head covering called a hijab.

Thursday, a woman's car was shot at as she left a mosque in eastern Tampa, about a mile from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, CAIR Florida director Hassan Shibly told me.

And over the weekend, a woman reported a man cutting her off and throwing stones and other things at her as she drove away from a mosque in New Tampa.

Shibly told me CAIR is hearing reports like this every single day from across the state.

"The American Muslim community is proud of its contributions in society, and it's unfortunate that certain politicians are attacking the entire Muslim faith and people for the horrendous actions of a few people," Shibly said.

You can see what a hijab, or head scarf, looks like in this story, "What's it like to be Muslim in Tampa Bay?" from 10News reporter Mark Rivera.

Mark spent Thursday with the Saleh family, a typical family in Tampa Bay. They own small businesses, they're raising their kids, and they are Muslim.

Analysts and experts say the kind of anti-Muslim attacks reported in Hillsborough County this week are literally exactly what ISIS wants.

Because ISIS has only a few thousand people, and almost all of them are on the other side of the planet, this is their strategy:

Create a divide between Muslims and non-Muslims in America, with the hopes that some Muslims will feel isolated and fed up enough to turn to radical Islam, then attack.