Man harasses Muslim women in Oregon, then kills 2 defenders

Two men were fatally stabbed in the US city of Portland after they came to the aid of two women who were being harassed because they appeared to be Muslim, police said.

The attacker had been shouting ethnic and religious slurs at the women on a commuter train at the Hollywood transit station, the Portland police department said in a statement.

Three men who intervened were stabbed, two fatally. A suspect was arrested shortly after he got off the train. The women left the scene before police could interview them.

"In the midst of his ranting and raving, some people approached him and appeared to try to intervene with his behaviour and some of the people that he was yelling at," said a Portland police spokesman, Pete Simpson. "They were attacked viciously by the suspect."

Witnesses told police that the two young women were possibly Muslim. One wore a hijab. Portland police did not identify the suspect or the victims. The third victim was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The attack on Friday afternoon happened hours before the start of Ramadan, Islam's holy month, when most of the world"s 1.6 billion Muslims observe a religious fast.

In a statement responding to the attack, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) said anti-Muslim incidents in the US had increased by more than 50% from 2015 to 2016, which it blamed in part on Donald Trump's focus on militant Islamist groups and anti-immigrant rhetoric.

"President Trump must speak out personally against the rising tide of Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry and racism in our nation that he has provoked through his numerous statements, policies and appointments that have negatively impacted minority communities," said Cair's national executive director, Nihad Awad.

The administration says that while it strongly opposes Islamist militants, it has no quarrel with Islam.