QUINCY, Mass. (AP) – An official at a mosque damaged by a fire early Sunday morning said the building was targeted, but fire officials stopped short of calling it arson.

The fire at the Islamic Center of New England started underneath a back stairwell just after 1:30 a.m., Quincy fire officials said. It burned through the top of the stairs and a back porch leading into the building, causing $10,000 worth of damage.

“It didn’t start accidentally, it was intentional,” said Syed Nuruzzaman, a member of the mosque’s board of directors.

No one was injured in the fire, and no flames entered the building, though there was smoke damage inside, fire officials said.

State Fire Marshall Stephen Coan said the fire was of an unknown origin, but refused to describe it as suspicious.

“There are no known threats to the mosque,” he said. “There are no red flags indicating that this is a hate crime or a crime against this particular religious institution.”

Quincy Deputy Fire Chief Tim Pettinelli said investigators are looking into the cause.

“I don’t know what started the fire. I had listed it as undetermined cause,” he said. “It was a very minor fire … I would call it more of a prank type of thing.”

Nuruzzaman, a 32-year member of the mosque, said the building was set on fire in 1991, and again about six months ago.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the mosque has also been the target of graffiti and had eggs thrown at it, said Nuruzzaman, who said he did not know who might have set Sunday’s fire.

“It’s hard to pinpoint anybody because we didn’t see them,” he said. “We can guess some people because in the past they’ve tried (to damage the building) a couple of times. Some people don’t like Islamic centers.”

Fire and water damaged the mosque’s prayer room, he said, and there is the stench of smoke throughout the building.

After the last attack, Nuruzzaman said the community was very supportive. The fire damage was more extensive then, he said, and several area churches offered to let members of the mosque use their facilities to pray.

Earlier in the weekend, a Woburn church was burned by a second arsonist this year, even as repair work was underway to fix $500,000 worth of damages from the first fire. Someone apparently broke in through a small window of St. Charles Church early Saturday morning and lit a piano on fire, Woburn fire officials said.

AP-ES-07-27-03 2025EDT

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