Sabotage feared in mosque blaze in northern Greece

ATHENS

A fire broke out at a mosque just before Friday prayers in Komotini city in northeastern Greece that left the roof and interior damaged.

Komotini authorities told the Anadolu Agency that firefighters had to be called in to put out the blaze in the New Neighborhood. 

An elected mufti at the Komotini Ibrahim Sharif told the Anadolu Agency that it was not yet known what exactly caused the fire in the mosque, but there was suspicion that it was an act of sabotage.

He said that the fact that another masjid in the same area was attacked at the same time was deeply suspicious.

Unidentified people had damaged trees at a courtyard of another mosque in the same neighborhood. A number of freshly-planted saplings and trees in the rear of that mosque had been uprooted.

 “These two incidents cannot be a coincidence. Personally, I think that this was sabotage,” the mufti added.

The Komotini prosecutor has launched an investigation to see if the incidents were acts of sabotage.