On 11 October 2016, a fire was deliberately set at the Malmö Muslim community centre in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

, Sweden, which housed a mosque. There were no injuries and only minor damage.

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

claimed responsibility for the attack. A Syrian resident of Malmö was arrested, tried and acquitted and the incident was deemed to be arson, but not terrorism. In June 2017, a man was arrested in Germany, accused of working for the ISIS-related news agency, Amaq. Police claim he had contacted the accused before and after this attack in order to report back to Amaq.

Events

A 30-year-old Syrian man was arrested in December 2016, accused of throwing the fire bomb that set off the fire, causing damage to the building. At trial in early June, 2017, the accused was acquitted of all charges and the fire was deemed to be arson, but not to be terrorism-related. After being acquitted, the accused was immediately remanded to the custody of the Swedish Security police Säpo, where procedures were activated to open a case under the Foreign Immigration Control law to establish whether his residency status should be revoked and he should be deported to his country of origin on the grounds of having ties with

and of posing a threat to national security.

Allegations of ISIS involvement

According to

The Local ''The Local'' is a multi-regional, European digital news publisher targeting expats, labour migrants and second home owners. It has nine local editions: The Local Austria, The Local Denmark, The Local France, The Local Germany, The Local Italy, ...

, investigators had found a description of how to make a detonator on the accused man's computer, along with

propaganda films showing Islamic State militants fighting and killing "infidels" and also the image of an Isis flag. In October 2016, the

magazine ''al-Naba'' claimed that the arson was committed by "a warrior from the caliphate," who acted "on the instructions of the leader al-Adnani", Isis spokesman

Abu Mohammad al-Adnani Taha Sobhi Falaha (1977 – 30 August 2016), commonly known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Muhammad al-Adnani al-Shami, was a Syrian-born militant leader who was the official spokesperson and a senior leader of the Islamic State. He was described a ...

, and described the arson fire as the Islamic State's first attack on Scandinavia. Swedish terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp dismissed the ISIS claim, but terrorism expert Hans Brun of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, noted that given the paucity of press coverage, the question was how the ISIS news agency "got access to this information". In June 2017, German police arrested a 23 year old Syrian man identified only as Mohammed G., accusing him of being an Isis member and of passing on information to the

Amaq News Agency Amaq News Agency () is a news outlet linked to the Islamic State (IS). Amaq is often the "first point of publication for claims of responsibility" for terrorist attacks in Western countries by the Islamic State. In March 2019, Amaq News Agency w ...

since September 2015. German police accused Mohammad G. of communicating with the alleged perpetrator of the Malmö arson attack on social media. According to the German prosecutor's office, "One day after this attack, the accused demanded from his contact person (in Sweden) a personal claim of this deed..., The background was that Amaq did not want to issue a report about the attack without such a claim". Following the arrest of Mohammad G.,

Shiraz Maher Shiraz Maher (born 12 July 1981) is a British writer and analyst, and Director at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) at King's College London. He also teaches at Johns Hopkins University. The so ...

, deputy director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King's College, London, said "We've all assumed that they are reading news reports, and then saying, 'Our guy did this.' But this is interesting because this does show that they clearly have someone, who is one of their guys, and who is getting verification and confirming that this attack was in our name", however Maher cautioned that the German police statement had mentioned only a single example of such confirmation.

Response

In a speech in February 2017,

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

stated that the media was not reporting on terrorist attacks. Later that day, the

Trump administration Presidency of Donald Trump may refer to: * First presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration from 2017 to 2021 * Second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration since 2025 See also * ...

included this event in a list of 78 attacks which the admin said were "under-reported".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016 Malmö Muslim community centre arson 2016 crimes in Sweden Attacks on Shiite mosques Arson in Sweden 2010s in Malmö Attacks in Europe in 2016 October 2016 crimes in Europe Attacks on mosques in Sweden Islamist attacks on mosques Attacks on buildings and structures in 2016 Arson in 2016 2016 fires in Europe 2016 in Islam 21st-century attacks on mosques Mosque arson