| Arson was suspected in an early morning fire yesterday that caused some damage but no injuries at a recently built mosque near Frankfurt in Germany. Police in the town of Usingen, 25 kilometers north of Frankfurt, said it was too early to say whether an anti-Islamic motive was behind the blaze. "It could have been a prank by teenagers or it could have a terrorist background," a police spokesman said. "We just don't know yet." A motorist noticed smoke billowing out and called the fire service at 5.20 a.m. local time. The fire was extinguished 55 minutes later. The damage was initially estimated at 50,000 euros (about $70,000). Arson attacks on mosques and churches in the Netherlands last month raised fears that violence could spill over into Germany, where Islam is the third largest religious denomination after Catholicism and Lutheranism. So far, there have been only two confirmed attacks on German mosques in the latter part of this year. On Wednesday a bullet broke a window and damaged a wall at a mosque in Schwaebisch Hall, southern Germany. Police made one arrest in Sinsheim, near Heidelberg, after a firebomb burned a mosque door on Nov. 17. |