Thieves in the town of Mahayil stripped a mosque of air-conditioning units, loudspeakers, carpers, lamps and an electricity fuse box on Sunday in what is the latest in a series of robberies that have provoked the ire of residents. Locals in the district of Al-Rubou' say the area has become rife with illegal activities, with drug and alcohol dealers adding their crimes to a spate of house and mosque burglaries. Neighbors have made repeated calls to authorities to address what they describe as a crime wave, and say the perpetrators hide during the day in the mountains surrounding the area and come down at night.
