Police officials said the 47-year-old imam died of smoke inhalation on Monday after a firebomb was thrown into the mosque. Police did not release the name of the imam.
“There is a lot of damage, apparently the entire mosque, or almost the entire mosque, burned down,” police spokeswoman Marie Verbeke said.
She also stated that another person who was with the imam in the mosque at the time of the attack was injured.
The police have arrested one person in connection with the incident, Verbeke added.
Belgian Interior Minister Joelle Milquet said she was “very shocked by the events that have occurred,” which she condemned “with firmness and indignation.”
The area around the mosque, near Belgium’s main international railway hub, has a large immigrant Muslim population.
MN/MF/HGL
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