‘Hatred Crime’: Car Attacked Outside Australian Mosque
MEP: Explosions and bomb fires occurred outside a Western Australian mosque on Tuesday night setting cars ablaze as hundreds of worshippers attended a prayer service inside.
The attack happened at around 8 pm local time in Thornlie, southeast of Perth. No one was injured in the incident.
Worshippers reported hearing a loud bang and emerged from the mosque to find the vehicle ablaze.
They rushed outside and saw a burning Toyota Prado and three people running down an alleyway next to the college. Later they found an offensive message reading “F**k Islam” sprayed on the mosque wall behind the burning vehicle.
The attack was condemned on Wednesday by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, with one Islamic leader calling it a “hate crime”.
Thornlie Mosque Imam Yahya Adel Ibrahim wrote on Facebook, worshipers had run outside when they heard one of the cars explode.
Car bombings & anti Islamic graffiti at Thornlie Mosque. Police ask any witnesses to come forward @7NewsPerth pic.twitter.com/za3b86RZkc
— REBECCA NICHOLLS (@BecNicholls7) June 28, 2016
“Most people were in dismay and alarm, (asking), ‘why us really? Don’t they know that there’s children inside?’ This is a place of prayer,” he said.
“A suspected petrol bomb was placed in a parked car outside the Thornlie Mosque & Australian Islamic College with hate fuelled graffiti put on the wall, while 100s of worshippers prayed Taraweeh/evening prayers inside.” Ibrahim added.
