mosque
Muslim worshippers pray, during the holy month of Ramadan, in the Gallipoli Mosque located in the western Sydney suburb of Auburn, Australia, July 10, 2015. Reuters/David Gray

A firebombing outside a mosque and an Islamic school in Perth on Tuesday is considered a hate crime. The attack, which also saw hateful anti-Islam graffiti sprayed on a wall, left no one injured.

A four-wheel drive vehicle parked outside the Thornlie Mosque exploded around 8 p.m. on Tuesday, with investigators later learning that petrol had been poured on it and it was lit on fire while worshippers prayed inside the mosque. Worshippers heard a loud bang and came out to see the vehicle on fire.

Four other vehicles also parked outside the mosque were damaged by the fire. There were three men seen fleeing the area after the explosion. Fortunately, no one was injured.

An anti-Islam message was also spray-painted on a wall of nearby school, Australian Islamic College, on Tonbridge Way. The West Australia police have asked anyone with information about the attack to come forward.

Australian Islamic College teacher Yahya Adel Ibrahim described the attack as a “criminal act of hate.” Nevertheless, the incident would not allow them to retaliate with hate.

“Thankfully our community won’t start hating and playing blame games and singling out groups of people in our society,” he wrote on Facebook. “This undoubtedly is a criminal act of hate, but it is the act of a person or group not the greater whole.”

The school’s executive principal, Dr Abdullah Khan, said the incident was the “most serious” the school had experience.

“It’s quite disheartening. We also understand a small fraction of one percent of the mainstream community is behind this and the perpetrators of this attack are definitely not representative of the mainstream Australian community,” he was quoted by Perth Now as saying.

The school still opened the next day. Khan asked the police to run more patrols around the mosque towards the end of Ramadan celebrations.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also condemned the attack, telling Macquarie Radio that Australia is “founded on a fundamental, a foundation of mutual respect.”