Cologne, MINA – An unidentified arsonist tried to burn down a mosque in the city of Cologne, police said on Friday.
Security guards spotted the suspect in the early hours of the morning outside Cologne’s Central Mosque as he poured petrol, police said in a statement, Anadolu Agency reported.
The suspect fled on foot after being caught, and left his bicycle with a can of gasoline and some lighters.
Police called for witnesses and said camera footage would be reviewed to identify the suspect.
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Cologne’s most prominent mosque, run by the Turkish-Muslim umbrella organization DITIB, has received numerous threatening letters in recent years from far-right extremists and neo-Nazi groups.
A country of more than 82 million people, Germany has the second largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Among the country’s nearly 5 million Muslims, 3 million are from Turkey. (T/RE1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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