A bomb damaged an Islamic primary school in the southern Dutch town of Eindhoven today, the latest in a series of attacks on Muslim buildings since last week's murder of a filmmaker critical of Islam.
Police said they were investigating the cause of the blast in the early hours of today, which followed a chain of attacks against Dutch mosques since film director Theo van Gogh was killed last Tuesday by a suspected Islamist militant.
Eindhoven mayor Alexander Sakkers said nobody was hurt in the blast, which damaged the school's entrance and shattered windows in the building and in nearby houses. A local man said the blast was deafening: "It certainly woke us all up," he said. "Residents of the area are really shocked and many have to contend with damage," Mr Sakkers said in a statement.
"We have to do everything possible to keep the community united." Mr Sakkers said he had ordered extra police protection for all public Muslim buildings in Eindhoven, including 5 mosques used by immigrants working for electronics group Philips and truckmaker Daf.
"It is essential that we stick together," Mr Sakkers said. "One single person who carried out such an idiotic act should not be allowed to affect Dutch society."
Dutch news agency ANP reported that police had arrested a 21-year-old man in the central town of IJsselstein on suspicion of throwing a firebomb at a local mosque.
There was also a failed arson attack on a mosque in the northeastern town of Groningen while another mosque there was daubed with slogans referring to the killing of Van Gogh, who will be cremated in a public ceremony in Amsterdam on Tuesday. Several demonstrations are planned to coincide with van Gogh's funeral.
At the weekend, mosques in the city of Rotterdam and the towns of Breda and Huizen were attacked but not badly damaged, while fires also broke out at a mosque in Utrecht on Friday. Posters insulting Islam showing pictures of pigs heads were plastered on a mosque in Rotterdam, while an immigrants' centre in Amsterdam was daubed with red paint.