Hate crimes against Muslims in the United States are occurring at the highest frequency since the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, soaring by 67 percent in 2015, the FBI reported.

Out of 5,850 reported incidents of hate crimes throughout the year, 57 percent were reportedly motivated by race or ethnicity, while 20 percent were said to be motivated by religious bias, according to new statistics released on Monday. Attacks based on sexual orientation accounted for 1,053 of the crimes.

Of those, 257 were against Muslims, up from 154 in 2014, making it the second-highest year after 2001, in which 481 hate crimes against followers of Islam were recorded.

Full story: sputniknews.com