The imam of Oslo's main mosque, Nemat Ali Shah, was reported
to have been attacked with axe by unknown assailant as he returned home
from the Central Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat mosque in the centre of the
Norwegian capital late on Monday.
AFP reports that the 57-year-old clergyman was recuperating in hospital on Tuesday after a masked assailant repeatedly hacked him, causing him serious wounds to his face and hands.
* Inside the Central Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat mosque in Oslo, Norway
Metlid noted that there had been clashes in 2005 and 2006 over his position as imam, which had previously led to violence. She said that she hoped police would be able to start questioning Shah later today.
AFP reports that the 57-year-old clergyman was recuperating in hospital on Tuesday after a masked assailant repeatedly hacked him, causing him serious wounds to his face and hands.
It was gathered that the religious leader was in a stable condition
on Tuesday after undergoing an operation on Monday night, and was soon
to be discharged from hospital.
Police on the matter told newsmen on Tuesday that they were
treating the attack as a murder attempt, but stressed that they did not
yet know whether the attack was a hate crime carried out by anti-Islamic
extremists, or somehow tied up to his position at the mosque.
"It is too early to say anything about it," Grete Lien Metlid,
head of the violent and sexual crimes unit at the Oslo police said in a
press conference. "It may be a hate crime, but we have no evidence to
say anything more about that now, or about whether the attack was linked
to his work as an imam."
* Inside the Central Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat mosque in Oslo, Norway
Metlid noted that there had been clashes in 2005 and 2006 over his position as imam, which had previously led to violence. She said that she hoped police would be able to start questioning Shah later today.
However, there are confusion if the Imam had been attacked with an
axe or a knife, as the police officer stated it was "a sharp object".
Police said that the attacker had been wearing a green and black
jacked, a hooded top, blacking jogging pants and white and grey shoes.
According to Aftenposten newspaper, Shah was attacked after he left
his home 50 metres from the mosque to go and lead the evening prayers.
When he did not show up, those gathered to pray tried calling his
mobile phone and raised the alarm when he did not answer. By that time,
he had already been able to crawl back into his home, where he was
picked up by an ambulance.
Ghulam Sarwar, the mosque's chairman, said that Shah had been hit on one side of his face, and wounded under one eye.
"He also had injuries to his fingers and hands, which suggests that
he tried to defend himself with his fists," Sarwar told Aftenposten.
It was gathered that the mosque has been both the focus of internal
conflict within the Muslim community, and attacks by far-right,
anti-Islamic extremists.
Last September, a pig's head was left outside the mosque on Friday, the day most Muslims go to pray.
The same month, another of Oslo's mosques, The World Islamic
Mission mosque, received an email threatening a campaign of
mosque-burning across Norway
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