Swedish police open arson case after mosque fire

Deneche says mosque had been target of several acts of violence in past year, his family had been threatened

By AFP
September 27, 2023
Smoke rises from the interior of a destroyed cellar mosque as firefighters search the remains of the building after an arson attack in Eskilstuna. — AFP/File
Smoke rises from the interior of a destroyed cellar mosque as firefighters search the remains of the building after an arson attack in Eskilstuna. — AFP/File

STOCKHOLM: Swedish police said Tuesday they were investigating whether a fire that reduced a mosque to rubble the previous day in central Sweden was arson.

“The investigation into the fire is continuing. Police will question witnesses and verify whether there were security cameras in the area,” the police said in a statement on their website.

The fire broke out on Monday around noon in Eskilstuna, a town of 108,000 people, 150 kilometres west of Stockholm, causing no injuries, a police spokesman told AFP. There are no suspects and no arrests have been made. “The mosque is almost completely destroyed, nothing can be saved,” mosque spokesman Anas Deneche told AFP.

Deneche said the mosque had been the target of several acts of violence in the past year and his family had been threatened. “But it’s still too early to draw any conclusions (about the cause of the fire), we’ll have to wait for the police to do their work,” he said. Police said they were investigating several leads but provided no other details. Between 15,000 and 20,000 Muslims live in Eskilstuna.