Mainstream Muslim groups condemned the killing but nevertheless have been the target of anger in the Netherlands.
I can understand why. If radical Muslims continue to murder people who disagree with them, mainstream Muslim groups should become allot more vocal in their condemnation. How about publicly condemning known fundamental radicals for a start?
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Muslim school in Netherlands bombed
Associated Press
POSTED AT 11:47 AM EST Monday, Nov 8, 2004
The Hague — A bombing before dawn Monday blew the front door off a Muslim elementary school in a southern town and extensively damaged the building in what police suspect was a revenge attack for the killing of a Dutch filmmaker last week.
No one was injured in the attack on the empty school, which came days after the arrest of a Muslim radical accused of killing filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Mr. van Gogh, a distant relative of Vincent van Gogh, released a film titled Submission in August that was critical of how women are treated under Islam.
The Tarieq Ibnu Zyad Islamic elementary school in Eindhoven, about 120 kilometres south of Amsterdam, is run by the al-Fourqaan Islamic Centre, which oversees the town's al-Fourqaan mosque.
Dutch intelligence officials have had the centre under observation since reports that it held an Islamic seminar in 1999, said to have been attended by Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, and Ramzi Binalshibh, the suspected liaison between al-Qaeda and three of the hijackers who were based in Hamburg, Germany.
The mosque was frequented by two Muslim youths killed in Kashmir in January, 2002, in an attack on Indian troops. And the school was the target of two minor arson attacks last year.
Mr. van Gogh's killing last Tuesday shocked the Netherlands and sparked several other anti-Muslim attacks including two weekend attempts to burn down mosques.
It was not immediately clear who carried out Monday's attack or what type of explosives were used, police spokesman Henrie van Pinxterens said. The powerful blast did substantial damage to the façade and interior of the building and scattered debris across the neighbourhood.
Spokesman Cees Dekkers said police suspect the bombing was a retaliation for Mr. van Gogh's murder.
“Eindhoven is shocked, very shocked, by a cowardly deed in the middle of the night when normal citizens are sleeping,” Mayor Alexander Sakkers told reporters.
Mr. Sakkers said police would introduce round-the-clock surveillance of Islamic sites in the town of about 200,000, which has five main mosques.
Interior Ministry spokesman Frank Wassenaar said the government had spoken to authorities about whether more security was needed following Mr. van Gogh's slaying, but said “there is no indication that local police cannot deal with this themselves.”
The mayor met with parents of the school's students later on Monday.
“It is essential that we stick together,” he said. “One single person who pulls off such an idiot act” should not affect Dutch society.
Mr. van Gogh, an outspoken satirist and columnist, was shot Tuesday while riding his bicycle. He was then stabbed, his throat cut and a five-page letter quoting from the Koran and threatening attacks on Dutch politicians was stuck on his body.
He will be cremated Tuesday in a public ceremony in Amsterdam.
Ten suspected Islamic extremists were arrested in the murder but four of them have been released.
Among those arrested was Mohammed Bouyeri, 26, the alleged killer, police said.
Mainstream Muslim groups condemned the killing but nevertheless have been the target of anger in the Netherlands.
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