Get the biggest daily news stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email

An explosive believed to be a firebomb has been thrown into a car - allegedly while the driver was still sitting inside.

It is also believed that the victim alleged the suspect shouted 'There you go, Muslim', before throwing the device into the vehicle.

The car has been almost completely destroyed by the suspected bomb after it set on fire .

It has been reported that the incident took place in North Philadelphia this morning at approximately 5am.

The video was recorded by a witness, going under the username @FeministaJones, who said: "Heard a huge explosion. Didn't know what it was. Then heard a man yelling saying his skin was burning.

(Image: Twitter/@TimJRadio)

"Heard him say he was in his car and someone drove by and threw something in it while he was in it.

"Then kept hearing loud pops so I went to the door. Neighbours were helping the man because his skin was burning. He lost some of it.

"Went to the corner and saw the whole car on fire. After firetrucks come, he talks to them and then talks to us.

"He describes a car pulling up and someone inside saying 'There you go, Muslim' before throwing something into his car.

(Image: ABC)

"Most of us know him too because he is always on the block working on his car and other things. This is wild.

"So I don't know if what was said was true or not but he said that's what he told the firemen. His face, arm, hands, legs all burned."

It is believed the man has been rushed to hospital after the incident. Police have yet to comment. </s> SEATTLE (AP) — A man arrested after a suspicious fire severely damaged a Washington state mosque early Saturday had previously caused a ruckus when he interrupted a prayer service there last summer, a mosque official said.

The fire was reported at about 2:45 a.m. Saturday at the Islamic Center of the Eastside in Bellevue. Authorities said that as firefighters doused the flames, police found a 37-year-old man near the building and arrested him for investigation of arson and malicious mischief.

The fire destroyed the back of the building, but the extent of the damage was not yet clear, mosque board member Tanvir Rahman said in a phone interview. He described the suspect as mentally disturbed — which is how the suspect described himself in at least one of his many prior encounters with the police, court records show.

“He has been there before,” Rahman said. “He came in during a prayer service a few months back and shouted some profanities. Some of the people got him out and the police took him.”

According to a police report on that incident filed in King County District Court, the suspect entered the mosque on the evening of July 28, yelling wildly and waving his arms. When a worshipper asked how he could help the man, the suspect cocked his fist and threatened him, the officer wrote.

Others grabbed him and pushed him outside, and he struck one worshipper, who declined to have the police pursue assault charges, the officer wrote. The suspect, who was described in the report as homeless, was cited for disorderly conduct.

On another occasion, the imam bought him a sandwich at a Subway restaurant, Rahman said.

The suspect, who has not been charged in the mosque fire, has been arrested more than 50 times, including many times for property damage, King County court records show.

Last June, he was arrested after smashing a window at the Nike Town store in downtown Seattle with a rock. When a Seattle police officer asked him why he did it, he responded that he was schizophrenic and wanted to go to jail, the officer noted in an incident report.

“He told me the many people trying to kill him and accuse him of crimes made him believe he should commit the crimes to go to jail,” the officer wrote.

Police spokesman Seth Tyler says investigators believe the man is the sole suspect.

A public defender who represented the man in the Nike Town vandalism did not immediately return an email Saturday. The Associated Press is withholding the man’s name because he has not been charged.

The mosque was unoccupied at the time and no injuries were reported.

There have been repeated incidents of threats and vandalism at the Bellevue mosque and others in recent months. A man was charged this week with a hate crime for threatening people there on Jan. 6, and a granite sign outside the Muslim Association of Puget Sound in neighboring Redmond was damaged twice.

This story has been corrected to show that while the suspect had previously been to the mosque, he was not known to have worshipped there. </s> At least three people have been injured after a vehicle rammed into pedestrians close to a mosque in northwest London, British police have said.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that the suspected "hate crime" took place shortly after 12:20am local time on Wednesday, when three males and a woman, all aged in their mid-twenties, were asked to leave a private car park in Cricklewood belonging to the Hussaini Association.

After engaging in a confrontation with a group of worshippers at the Shia Islamic centre, "comments of an Islamophobic nature were allegedly made," then the car "proceeded to make off at speed colliding with three individuals as it left."

"The car and its occupants failed to stop and injured three people," the police statement added.

Police said they had launched an investigation but the incident was not being treated as terror-related but as a possible hate crime.

"We are treating this incident very seriously and a number of enquiries are under way to trace the car and those involved," Kelly Schonhage, an officer from a local branch of the CID said.

The incident left a man in his 50s hospitalised with a "serious leg injury," while two other men in their 20s suffered minor injuries, the police said.

'P remeditated Islamophobic attack '

Ali Salman, who claims he was at the scene of the incident, said he was "milliseconds" from injury when the car swerved into groups of people leaving the centre.

"The driver was swerving into people, trying to run over as many people as possible," he said in a Facebook post.

Miqdaad Versi, the assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the largest Muslim umbrella body in the United Kingdom, claimed eyewitnesses reported hearing "anti-Islamic" slogans being shouted during the incident.

"Reports of Islamophobic insults being hurled mean that the incident is being treated as a potential hate crime," he said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera.

Images posted on social media appeared to show paramedics delivering first aid to the wounded, with one of the injured appearing to need help to breathe.

Reports suggest a car swerved into a crowd of Muslims outside the The Hussaini (Balaghiya) Association in Cricklewood, with 5 injured (3 seriously). Eye-witnesses apparently suggest perpetrators were heard shouting anti-Islamic sloguns.https://t.co/VmvysZgpC5 pic.twitter.com/niMOgf8ccM — Miqdaad Versi (@miqdaad) September 19, 2018

The Hussaini Association called the incident a "premeditated Islamophobic attack," adding that the worshippers were attending a 10-day series of lectures commemorating the death of Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was killed 1379 years ago according to the Islamic calendar, a date which will coincide with Thursday this year.

"We are in deep shock at such an attack taking place on our community," a spokesman for the association said in a statement.

"We remain proud to live in a diverse and tolerant society and as such we remain unintimidated."

London's Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted: "We have a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime in London. Places of worship - for people of all faiths - must remain safe."

We have a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime in London. Places of worship - for people of all faiths - must remain safe. — Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) September 19, 2018

Surge in Islamophobia

Tell MAMA, an NGO tracking hate crimes against Muslims in the UK, reported a surge in Islamophobic attacks last year, with 1,201 verified reports submitted.

It said the 2017 figures marked a 26 percent increase on 2016, and were the biggest number since it began recording incidents in 2012.

{articleGUID}

Reports of Islamophobia in the UK, including within the ruling Conservative Party, have come under scrutiny in recent months with calls to look into the problem.

Sayeeda Warsi, a senior Tory member, called for an inquiry into allegations of Islamophobia in the party in July, after writing an open letter in the Guardian newspaper.

"There should be a forensic, wide-ranging and transparent inquiry into Islamophobia in the party," Warsi, a member of the House of Lords said, adding "the process should be published, those who are found wanting should be publicly named and membership withdrawn". </s> BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) — A man is in custody after a suspicious fire severely damaged a Washington state mosque overnight.

The fire was reported early Saturday at the Islamic Center of the Eastside in Bellevue. Authorities say that as firefighters doused the flames, police found a man near the building and arrested him for investigation of arson. He’s identified as 37-year-old Isaac Wayne Wilson. Investigators believe he’s the sole suspect.

The mosque was unoccupied at the time and no injuries were reported.

There have been repeated incidents of threats and vandalism at the Bellevue mosque and others in recent months. A man was charged this week with a hate crime for threatening people there on Jan. 6, and a granite sign outside the Muslim Association of Puget Sound in neighboring Redmond was damaged twice </s> LONDON – British police are investigating a possible hate crime after a car hit pedestrians near a Muslim community centre, injuring three people.

Police were called early Wednesday morning after a confrontation developed between four people in a car and a large group of people visiting a Muslim community centre and mosque in the Cricklewood area of northwest London.

Officials said some anti-Muslim comments were made and the car reportedly sustained minor damage from some of the people from the centre. It then sped off, mounting the pavement twice, and hitting three people without stopping.

Police said the injuries are not life threatening although two people needed hospital treatment. The case is not being treated as related to terrorism.

READ MORE: Victim of racist exchange at Edmonton supermarket recorded video to raise awareness of Islamophobia

“It is being dealt with as an Islamophobic hate crime and it is being dealt with as a racist hate crime,” Simon Rose, the metropolitan police chief superintendent, said.

The Hussaini Association, which had organized a lecture at the mosque, called the collision “a suspected premeditated Islamophobic attack.”

In a statement, the group said the car “swerved into innocent bystanders” and the occupants were heard shouting anti-Islamic taunts just before the attack.

Police are searching for the car and its occupants, reported as three men and a woman.

“This incident is not being treated as terror-related but the hate crime aspect of the collision is being looked at by detectives as an aggravating factor,” police said in a statement. </s> BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — The FBI was searching for suspects after an explosive device tore through part of a suburban Minneapolis mosque on Saturday as people were preparing for morning prayers, damaging a room but not causing any injuries, authorities and witnesses said.

The blast happened at around 5 a.m. at the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, according to Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts. Windows of the imam’s office were shattered, either by the blast or by an object thrown through them, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported .

One worshipper saw a pickup truck speeding away shortly after the explosion, said Mohamed Omar, the center’s executive director. He said the mosque, which primarily serves people from the area’s large Somali community, occasionally receives threatening calls and emails.

“We came to this country for the same reason everyone else came here: freedom to worship,” Yasir Abdalrahman, a worshipper at the mosque, told the newspaper. “And that freedom is under threat. Every other American should be insulted by this.”

Asad Zaman, director of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, described the attack as a firebombing.

Investigators will try to determine whether the incident was a hate crime and who may have been behind it, according to Richard Thornton, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis Division.

Thornton said during an afternoon news conference that the explosion was caused by an “improvised explosive device,” and that investigators have recovered components of the device to figure out how it was put together.

But he didn’t take questions and declined to provide details about the device, citing the ongoing investigation, which is being led by the FBI.

Saturday’s bombing comes amid a rise in reports of anti-Muslim incidents in the U.S., including arson attacks and vandalism at mosques, harassment of women wearing Muslim head coverings and bullying of Muslim schoolchildren. Just recently in Minnesota, an Islamic cemetery in Castle Rock Township reported it had been vandalized with spray painted profanities and swastikas.

The mosque in Bloomington, just south of Minneapolis, serves as a religious center and community organizing platform for Muslim activists and leaders in the area, according to the society. The group is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest or conviction.

A $10,000 reward also is being offered by the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. The group said its national office is urging Islamic centers and mosques to step up security.

“If a bias motive is proven, this attack would represent another in a long list of hate incidents targeting Islamic institutions nationwide in recent months,” said Amir Malik, the local chapter’s civil rights director.

Along with a mosque, the building houses a community center that hosts computer classes, a basketball league, religious classes, lectures and other events.

Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in the U.S., roughly 57,000 people, according to the latest census figures. The immigrants have been coming to Minnesota from their war-torn homeland since the 1990s, drawn by generous social services and the sense of community among the diaspora.

WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON:
• MAN TEXTING ABOUT CHILD SEX ABUSE ON FLIGHT LEADS TO ARRESTS
• WOMAN SENTENCED TO 15 MONTHS IN JAIL IN TEXTING SUICIDE CASE
• HILLS FIRE BEING INVESTIGATED AS POSSIBLE ARSON </s> A Washington man was arrested on Saturday on charges of setting fire to an Islamic center in Bellevue, Washington, authorities said.

Isaac Wayne Wilson, 37, was arrested after he was discovered in a parking lot near the Islamic Center of Eastside, where a fire broke out in the middle of the night.

Bellevue Police Chief Steve Mylett said Wilson was arrested on suspicion of second degree arson, and on an outstanding warrant for felony first degree malicious mischief in Seattle.

Police and fire agencies received several calls alerting them to a fire at the center around 2:45 a.m. Firefighters found heavy fire on the first and second floors, Fire Chief Mark Risen said, adding that firefighters quickly prevented the fire from spreading to other parts of the building.

There were no injuries, Risen said.

Imam Faizel of the Islamic Center of Eastside said he was shocked by the incident.

“As a community, yes we are heartbroken, we are sad that we have lost our place of worship. I have been the imam there for 16 years and never have we ever experienced anything like this,” he told a news conference.

The motive remains unknown, Mylett said, and the incident is under investigation.

The mosque solicited donations on its web site to rebuild, saying “Together we can build something better, bigger, and beautiful.” </s> Police in London launched an investigation Wednesday into a possible hate crime after a car hit a crowd outside a mosque, injuring three people.

The collision, in Cricklewood in north London in the early hours of Wednesday, followed the occupants of the car allegedly directing "comments of an Islamophobic nature" at the group, according to the Metropolitan Police.

The incident left a man in his 50s hospitalised with "a serious leg injury", while two other men in their 20s suffered minor injuries, it added.

Officers are working to trace the driver and occupants of the car -- three men and a woman, all aged in their mid-20s -- which fled the scene.

"This incident is not being treated as terror related but the hate crime aspect of the collision is being looked at by detectives as an aggravating factor," the Met said in a statement.

The incident began when security at the Al-Majlis Al-Hussaini Islamic centre learned the people in the car were "behaving anti-socially, drinking and allegedly using drugs," police added.

The vehicle occupants were asked to leave the private car park, sparking a "confrontation" with a large group of people outside the centre.

"Words were exchanged and comments of an Islamophobic nature were allegedly made by the group in the car," the Met said.

"The car then reportedly sustained minor damage by some of those outside the centre.

"It proceeded to make off at speed colliding with three individuals as it left."

Detective Sergeant Kelly Schonhage, from the local investigating team, said the incident was being treated "very seriously" and appealed for witnesses to come forward.

"Extra neighbourhood police patrols have been stepped up in the area and officers will be on hand to speak with those in the local community," she added.

The number of hate crimes in England and Wales increased by 29 percent in 2016-2017, according to the latest Home Office statistics.

On June 19 last year Darren Osborne ploughed a van into people leaving late-night prayers at a mosque in Finsbury Park in north London, killing one man and injuring 11 others.

Osborne, who had left a note in the van in which he said he was seeking revenge for Islamist terror attacks and a child sex scandal, was charged with terrorism-related murder and sentenced to life in prison in February. </s> LONDON: Police in London launched an investigation Wednesday into a possible hate crime after a car hit a crowd outside a mosque, injuring three people. The collision, in Cricklewood in north London in the early hours of Wednesday, followed the occupants of the car allegedly directing “comments of an Islamophobic nature” at the group, according to the Metropolitan Police. The incident left a man in his 50s hospitalised with “a serious leg injury”, while two other men in their 20s suffered minor injuries, it added.

Officers are working to trace the driver and occupants of the car — three men and a woman, all aged in their mid-20s — which fled the scene. “This incident is not being treated as terror related but the hate crime aspect of the collision is being looked at by detectives as an aggravating factor,” the Met said in a statement. The incident began when security at the Al-Majlis Al-Hussaini Islamic centre learned the people in the car were “behaving anti-socially, drinking and allegedly using drugs,” police added. The vehicle occupants were asked to leave the private car park, sparking a “confrontation” with a large group of people outside the centre. “Words were exchanged and comments of an Islamophobic nature were allegedly made by the group in the car,” the Met said. “The car then reportedly sustained minor damage by some of those outside the centre. “It proceeded to make off at speed colliding with three individuals as it left.”
A man in Philadelphia firebombs a man's car, referring to the injured burned man as being Muslim.