MELBOURNE, Australia, October 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Arsonists who firebombed a Melbourne mosque Thursday, October 17, have threatened further attacks against Muslims, an Islamic community leader said.

Arsonists threw a firebomb into a Melbourne mosque early Thursday, the third attack on a Muslim religious site since a weekend bombing in Bali.

No one was injured but windows were smashed and carpets burned when the firebomb was thrown through the mosque window in East Doncaster before dawn, they said. The fire was put out by people who were in the building, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Mosque spokesman Noor Dean said the attackers also daubed anti-Islamic graffiti on the building.

“There were threats like 'you get out or we’ll be back again’,” he said.

“This is a backlash from (Bali). The community is aware of that.”

“It seems we are becoming the people who have to answer for the bad deeds of others,” Dean said.

He said the mosque would now employ security guards and ask police to step up patrols.

Police said they were investigating whether the firebombing in retaliation for the Bali bombings, which authorities have blamed on "Islamic radicals" although no one has claimed responsibility.

“It’s not being looked at as a retaliation attack, it’s just being looked at as an arson attack on a building,” said Deputy Police Commissioner Bill Kelly.

“But obviously given what has happened last Saturday that puts another dimension into the investigation to follow-up on, to make sure it either is or isn’t politically or religiously motivated,” he said.

On Tuesday, October 15, a school and the home of a Muslim cleric in Sydney were attacked by stone-throwing vandals.

The Australian Federation of Islamic Council described the incident as retribution for the deaths of Australians in Bali, although police refused to immediately label the attack a hate crime without further investigation.

Australian authorities have urged the public not to hold Muslims responsible for the bombing.

Police patrols have been stepped up around Muslim sites across the country.

Police said at least two men entered the grounds of an Islamic school in Sydney’s western suburbs early Tuesday, smashing windows and damaging the residence of Imam Ahmed Shabbir, which is on the premises.

Appearing shaken but unhurt, Shabbir told ABC television he called police as the intruders battered his home.

“I told them that we are in a dangerous position, that people are attacking us so please come and help us,” he said.

While police said they were not treating the attack as a hate crime, Shabbir said Australian Muslims were fearful in the wake of the Bali bombing.

Leaders of the country’s 500,000-strong Islamic community said they were worried Australians angry over the attacks would indiscriminately target Muslims.

Imam Uzair Akbar, whose Holland Park Mosque in suburban Brisbane was badly damaged in an arson attack following last year’s September 11 attacks, has hired extra security guards.

“Emotions are running high and there’s a lot of anger,” he told AFP.

“It’s there in the back of my mind that it might happen again, I’d like to think it won't but I thought that last year and my mosque was burned down.”

“The message to our Australian brothers and sisters is that we too condemn this terrible attack, our religion does not respect the taking of innocent blood.”

A 24-year-old man was convicted last week over the Brisbane arson attack, which the trial judge described as racially motivated.

Prime Minister John Howard has described Islam as a religion of peace and rejected the notion of the attackers acting for a religious cause.

Muslim leaders said they will condemn the Bali bombing at noon prayers on Friday, October 18.

Australian Muslims will condemn the Bali bombing at noon prayers on Friday and be encouraged to donate blood for those injured in the blast, a state Islamic council said.

New South Wales Islamic Council chairman Ali Roude said Australia's 500,000 Muslims had felt under seige since the weekend bombing and wanted to demonstrate that they shared the wider community’s revulsion at the atrocity.

“The mosques will be full across Australia and the imams will make an expression of sorrow for those who were killed and severely injured,” he said.

“Muslims will encouraged to do everything they can to condemn this barbaric act -- donating blood, giving money, offering voluntary assistance.”

“Every now and then, when something happens overseas, the (Muslim) community comes under siege,” he said.  

World Wide War Invasion into Gaza Arafat HQ Destroyed… In Pictures Homeless in Minutes War on Iraq.. World Reaction Palestine: Sharon To Meet Bush To Discuss U.S. Attack on Iraq Peres Defends Oslo, Says Far-Right's Blindness to Bring Catastrophe Hezbollah to Retaliate "Within Minutes" If Israel Hits Water Project Five Israelis Injured In A Bus Shooting Israel Abducts, Then Releases, Top Palestinian Muslim Official, Ekrima Sabri Iraq: Chirac Against One U.N. Resolution, Denies Iraq’s Link to Al-Qaeda All Iraqis Vote For Saddam, Opposition Cries Foul Play Bush’s Campaign Against Iraq May Lead to His Impeachment On Wheelchairs, Iraqi Handicaps Vote for Saddam Kuwaiti Teen With 10 Molotov Cocktails Arrested Near U.S. Military Complex Turkey’s Erdogan Resigns Top Party Post Saddam Did Not Threaten to Attack Qatar, Says FM Lynching 5 Dalits in Police Presence Exposes India’s Inhuman Caste System Churchmen Urge Arabs to Defend Iraq Against New War Bali C4 Standard Military Explosive Manufactured in U.S. Israeli Tanks Kill 8 Palestinians, Including 2 Children “Temple of Solomon” Calendar Causes Uproar in South Africa Bangladesh Blasts Time Magazine Story Yemen Admits “Terrorist Act” Behind Tanker Blast Second Australian Mosque Bombed, Threats of More Attacks Indonesian Police to Name Two Suspects in Bali Blast At Least 5 Killed, 144 Wounded in Philippine Blasts Hindu Extremist Calls For Suicide Squads to Fight “Islamic Terrorism” Egypt Celebrates Rebirth of Ancient Alexandria Library Bali Blast Heinous, Terrorist Crime, Say Al-Azhar Grand Imam, IWL Lebanon Inaugurates Wazzani Project Despite Israeli Threats India To Cut Troops From Pakistan Borders U.S. Army Set To Join Washington Sniper Hunt U.S. Boycotts Lebanon’s Water Project Opposed By Israel CIA Trapped in Its Own Game in Indonesia: Analysts Jordanian Officials: Committees Against Normalizing With Israel “Illegal” Pakistani Islamic Alliance To Nominate Scholar For PM Post Yesterday's News Advanced Search     News Archive : Day: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31     Month: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12   Year: 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999