France mosque shooting: 2 injured in Bayonne attack, suspect arrested

An 84-year-old man who is suspected of open firing outside a mosque in France which has injured two people in their 70's has been arrested by the French authorities on October 28. As per police statement, the man opened fire when the two victims, aged 74 and 78, saw him attempting to set fire to a mosque in Bayonne. Identified as Claude Sinke, the man is suspected to have set fire to a car as well. The injured were taken to the hospital and Claude was traced and arrested near his home. President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack on Twitter.

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Politicians condemn the incident

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner also confirmed the arrest and conveyed her support to the Islamic community. National Rally party which has had links to violent anti-Muslim groups also condemned the shooting which was voiced by Marine Le Pen. Marine said that the attack was against the values of their movement. On the other hand, Jean-Luc Melenchon, a left-wing leader said that public speech must stop encouraging hatred. 

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Mosque cordoned off

The attack follows Macron's statement which urged France's Muslims to step up the fight against separatism in the wake of an attack in which a police employee stabbed four colleagues to death this month. Yet the motive of Bayonne mosque attack remains unclear. Police cordoned off the mosque for investigations and a bomb squad was sent to Sinke's home in Saint-Martin-de-Seignanx. French Government has employed psychologists to provide care for witnesses of the incident.

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Previous attacks on mosques in France

Attacks on mosques have surged in France since 2007. About 148 Muslim headstones in a national military cemetery near Arras were smeared with anti-Islamic slurs and a pig's head was placed among them in the year. The same year, another gunman wounded an imam in a shooting at a mosque in the northwestern city of Brest. Few workers building a mosque in the small southwestern town of Bergerac reportedly found a pig's head and animal blood at the entrance to the site in March.

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