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The first time Ankur Tangirala was attacked, he shook his head, called his attacker a "psycho" and walked away.

The second time, he was kicked in the stomach and knocked to the ground.

Now, whenever Tangirala, a 27-year-old graduate student from India, approaches the corner of Cornell Drive and Central Avenue, he's wary.

"I can never walk across this area without thinking that I will be hit," he said.

A pattern of ongoing assaults near the University of New Mexico has disrupted the community of more than 100 East Indian students.

Fifteen students have come forward to describe similar attacks in the past few months. Five have filed police reports, either with UNM police or the Albuquerque Police Department, said Bhavana Upadhyaya, president of the India Student Association.

Upadhyaya, 34, said five more students have been attacked, but they chose to remain anonymous.

All the attacks have similarities: The victims are male, of East Indian appearance.

They occur in broad daylight and begin with a man who tries to sneak up on his victims from behind and then kicks them.

At some point in nearly every attack, the man says "Namaste," a traditional Hindi greeting.

So far, the attacker has managed to flee before police can arrive.

Danny Hernandez, president of the University Heights Neighborhood Association, says the frequency of the attacks appears to be escalating, with one assault per week for over the last month.

"It makes us wonder if these attacks are going to escalate to the point where the man has a weapon," Hernandez said.

In a recent assault, Tangirala said, the victim reported that his attacker kicked him to the ground and then pulled a screwdriver out and threatened him with it.

"I don't want to be sensationalist, but imagine if he gets a gun," Tangirala said. "Can you say that there is no risk that he won't shoot?"

Tangirala said he and the other students who have been attacked feel limited in defending themselves because they are not U.S. citizens. They attend the university on student green cards.

"If this were in our country, we would get a bunch of our friends together and go out and get him," Tangirala said. "But we have restrictions. We don't want to take the law into our own hands. What if we hit someone and get deported?"

Upadhyaya, Tangirala and Roshan Rammohan, 29, who has been attacked twice, are all doctoral candidates conducting research at the university.

Upadhyaya is studying communication, Tangirala is studying robotics and Rammohan is studying artificial intelligence with an emphasis on military uses.

They say they represent the contributions Indian students, many of whom live in the University Area, are making to the United States. They say they also worry about the impression these attacks will make on new students.

The victims concede that these incidents are difficult for police to resolve individually because no one has been seriously injured.

"Crime in this area has always been common, but now for us it has become a struggle if these crimes are racially motivated," Rammohan said. "These things are happening in broad daylight."

Upadhyaya fears for her 10-year-old son.

"Our loyalty is to this area," said Upadhyaya, who has lived in the University Area for five years. "This is the first time I have thought maybe I shouldn't be living in this area with my son. I am always worried and tense when he's riding his bike around with his friends."