Police say they have detained the “primary suspect” in the killings of four Muslim men in the US state of New Mexico’s largest city.

Albuquerque’s police chief on Tuesday announced the update on Twitter.

Chief Harold Medina says officers found the vehicle that investigators believe was involved in the deaths over the last nine months.

“We tracked down the vehicle believed to be involved in a recent murder of a Muslim man in Albuquerque.

“The driver was detained and he is our primary suspect for the murders,” the tweet said.

Albuquerque-Muslim-Killings
A young man bows during the Dhuhr afternoon prayer at the Islamic Centre of New Mexico (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/AP)

No other information was immediately available.

Police say they will provide an update on Tuesday afternoon.

Naeem Hussain was killed on Friday night, and the three other men died in ambush shootings.

Mr Hussain, 25, was from Pakistan.

His death came just days after those of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, and Aftab Hussein, 41, who were also from Pakistan and members of the same mosque.

The earliest case involves the November killing of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, from Afghanistan.