Mosque Arson Prompts Anti-Muslim Backlash Fears
The fire was started deliberately just before sunrise at the mosque under construction in Toulouse on Wednesday but luckily nobody was hurt, police said, the Express reported.
Father Jacques Hamel's throat was slit on Tuesday in the quiet Normandy town of Saint Etienne du Rouvray as France was reeling from the shock of the massacre of 84 people in Nice by an ISIL extremist days before.
Police are still searching for a second suspect in the Normandy attack after shooting dead one of the attackers as they appeared on the steps of the church following the brutal murder.
Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, said she feared France would be hit by "serial terrorist attacks" this summer.
Daesh quickly claimed responsibility for both the Nice and Normandy attacks, saying the perpetrators were their "soldiers" carrying out the work of the terror group.
Muslim leaders came out shortly after the horrendous murder to condemn it.
Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Mosque in Paris, said the attack was a "blasphemous sacrilege which goes against all the teachings of our religion".
Pope Francis said "the world is at war" and religion was not to blame as it was "a war of interests, for money, resources".
Leading French newspaper, Le Monde, said the terror group's aim is to make life so uncomfortable for French Muslims they will end up joining Daesh.
France's Socialist Government has been criticized for failing to act on intelligence, with police believing the remaining suspect of the Normandy church attack is the same person as a man they have been hunting since a tip-off last week.
The Centre-Right Republicans have called for more known extremists to be detained following the spate of attacks in France and Germany over the past two weeks.
Hate crimes against French Muslims have tripled since January last year, with more than 400 reports of assaults, criminal damage and harassment in 2015.
