4 Oct 2011

Mosque set on fire

5:24 am on 4 October 2011

A mosque in an Arab town in northern Israel, has been set on fire and its interior severely damaged.

Hebrew slogans were sprayed on the walls of the mosque in Tuba.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "outraged" by images from the village.

''The whole mosque was burnt - the carpet, the books, the Korans, all burnt,'' the village imam, Fuad Zangariya, told Israel's Army Radio.

The incident happened in the early hours of Monday. The words ''Revenge'', ''Price Tag'' and ''Palmer'' are reported to have been written in Hebrew on the mosque walls.

The BBC reports the latter was an apparent reference to a car crash on 23 September in which Israeli settler Asher Palmer and his son were killed after stones were thrown at their car.

A similar incident took place in the Arab Israeli village of Iblin last year. They are described as "price tag" attacks.