A Saudi Muslim PHD student has been attacked on a bus in Dublin by a man who said he hated Muslims before hitting her in shoulder, amid increasing hate-attacks targeting veiled women in the UK.

“Suddenly an Irish man came to the bus with a bus pass, saw me wearing hijab (veil) and said Allahu Akbar to me,” which means “God is great”, Mashael Khayyat, who is studying for a PhD in computer science at Trinity College, wrote on Facebook, The Independent reported on Tuesday, September 15.

Khayyat was recounting how she was attacked on September 9 when she was on her way the number 70 bus to pick her two daughters up from school.

Shouting “Allahu Akbar” in her face, the assailant told the veiled woman that Muslims “kill people.”

“I said no, we do not kill people,” she wrote.

“Then he hit me in my shoulder and said well ... I hate Muslims. I was shocked and frightened.”

Shocked by the attack, the terrified woman told the bus driver what happened who reported the incident to the police.

Ireland’s anti-Muslim attack came a few days after London Met police has revealed that Islamophobic attacks have increased by 70% in the past year, warning that veiled women were becoming prime targets of such attacks.

About 816 Islamophobic crimes were reported between July 2014 and July 2015, compared with 478 in the same period last year.

Anti-Muslim attacks across UK capital ranged from cyber-bullying and assaults to extreme violence, according to police.

Britain is home to a Muslim community of nearly 2.7 million.

Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.

Investigations

After reporting the attack, the Garda Síochána (Irish police service) said officers were investigating the incident.

"Gardai arrived on the scene and spoke to both parties. The investigation is ongoing,” it said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Dublin Bus said police were contacted and officers removed a passenger from the bus.

"The safety of our customers and our employees is our primary priority and we take incidents of this nature very seriously," the un-identified spokesperson added.

"We have retained CCTV footage of the incident and will make this available to An Garda Síochána and assist with their enquiries."

For the 31-year-old Muslim mother, who is a former lecturer King Abdullah University, that incident made her feel unsafe.

“I did not do anything to be treated badly like this, I am not hurting people with my hijab,” Khayyat, who moved to Dublin from Jeddah with her husband and two children three years ago to complete a four-year scholarship from the Saudi Arabian government, said.

“I went to my daughters with full of fear because I saw his anger and hate with no reason. I do not feel safe now.”

Moreover, the incident has revived her fears after the murder of a Saudi student in Essex last June.

Nahid al-Manea, who was 31 years old and studying at the University of Essex, died after being stabbed 16 times in Colchester, Essex.

Al-Manea was wearing a hijab and a full-length navy blue robe, called an abaya, when she was knifed to death on a footpath in Colchester.

Police data shows that 1,200 anti-Muslim attacks were reported in Britain in 2010.

A Financial Times opinion poll showed that Britain is the most suspicious nation about Muslims.

A poll of the Evening Standard found that a sizable section of London residents harbor negative opinions about Muslims.

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