Canadian mosque targeted in 'brazen' arson attack: 'How do we explain this to our children?'

Police say a mosque has been set on fire in Alberta, Canada, in what Muslim community representatives are calling a “brazen attack”.

CCTV images supplied to Canadian media by officials at the Edson Mosque appeared to show a hooded figure walking away from the building carrying a red bag or jerry can.

Three worshippers were in the car park of the mosque at the time and saw flames rising above an entrance. The fire service was called and successfully tackled the blaze before it could cause extensive damage.

But in a post on Facebook, Edson Mosque organisers said they were “gravely concerned about this attack”, the first of its kind in the five years since the building was constructed with flame-retardant materials in 2013.

The incident took place at around 11pm on Saturday night, “on a day of celebration for Muslims around the world as they celebrate an end of Ramadan”, mosque officials said.

Jocelyn Pettitt, a board member of the Islamic Society of Edson, described the incident as “disappointing”.

“We’re shocked… it’s concerning that someone came to damage our place of worship,” she told the Edmonton Journal.

She said the mosque serves 15 Muslim families in the area as well as lots of travellers stopping on their way to and from Jasper National Park. Edson itself is a small town with only around 8,500 residents. “The action of this one person isn’t representative of the town of Edson,” she said. “We consider this our home, and we’ve felt accepted since day one.”

Tufik Baterdouk, vice president of the Islamic Society of Edson, told CBC it was “a little bit more scary” that the arson took place while there were three worshippers on the premises.

"It was quite brazen," he said. "Typically you would think that someone who wants to commit arson or vandalism, if they see people ... they probably would change their mind. But this individual, it does not seem to be a concern for him.

"This is something that we will have to explain to our children ... that kind of weighs on your mind," he added. "Probably the hardest thing is having to try to explain to children why something like this could have happened."

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said it was treating the incident as arson and a possible hate crime, which was welcomed by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM).

“We strongly denounce this cowardly act of arson against a mosque, particularly when Canadians Muslims across the country are celebrating Eid ul-Fitr. We are relieved no one was hurt in the attack and we stand in solidarity with the entire Edson mosque community at this difficult time,” said the NCCM’s executive director Ihsaan Gardee.