WOONSOCKET, R.I. — A suspicious backpack left at a Muslim home should be treated as a hate crime, part of a possible backlash against the Boston Marathon bombings, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Sunday.

“We will be asking the FBI and state law enforcement authorities to investigate it,” said the group’s spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper.

On Saturday, state bomb investigators responded to a report of a suspicious backpack left at a residence on Cass Avenue near Woonsocket High School.

Nimer Ead, a 55-year-year-old design engineer, lives on the bottom floor of the three-family house with his wife and a stepson. He said a neighbor spotted the tan-and-black backpack in Ead’s back yard and called police. The backpack said “USA Bomb” on it, Ead said.

Providence Journal, 28 April 2013

Update:  See “Backpack causes scare”, The Call. 30 April 2013