Molotov cocktail allegedly thrown at California mosque

The fire caused about $1,000 of damage.

Sheriff’s officials say the device went off at the Tracy Islamic Center Friday night or early Saturday.

The official could not say if the Sheriff’s Office was investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Mosque leaders think someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the building.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is seeking an investigation into a recent “apparent firebombing” of a Tracy-area Mosque, the organization said.

Tracy Islamic Center president Mohammed Arain, who said it was the first time in 15 years he had to call the sheriff’s department.

“Without any current suspects, we don’t know what the intent was”, Van Grouw said, adding that the incident has yet to be classified as a hate crime.

A suspicious white powder was mailed to a Santa Clara chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and mosques have been attacked in Houston, Southern California, Alameda, Philadelphia, New Jersey and CT, among others.

Earlier this month, a suspected arson attack damaged a mosques in Coachella.

Both incidents came in the aftermath of the December 2 terror attack in San Bernardino in which alleged ISIS supporters killed 14 people.

These incidents are just the latest of more than 70 in what the Council on American-Islamic Relations has reported as incidents targeting American mosques and religious institutions in 2015.