Komotini mosque damaged by fire, arson suspected
Representatives of the Muslim community in Komotini, northeastern Greece, asked authorities on Friday to investigate the causes of a pre-dawn fire at the city’s largest mosque amid suspicions it was caused by arsonists.
Authorities were alerted to the fire at the mosque when neighbors noticed smoke coming out of the building. The fire service managed to extinguish the blaze but not before it had damaged the entrance to the building and part of the roof. There was nobody in the mosque when the fire broke out.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze but authorities noted that vandals had chopped down all the saplings in the garden of another mosque in the city. Komotini is home to more than 50,000 people, many of them Muslims.
