In the wake of the killing of three young Muslims in North Carolina, a fire at a Texas mosque on Friday led to suspicions over whether the fire was started deliberately. The fire at the Quba Islamic Institute in southeast Houston was reported 45 minutes before morning prayers were scheduled to begin. No injuries were reported.

"When we spoke to the investigator he told us that it was an incendiary fire, which means that it was a suspected arson, that someone intentionally set the place aflame," Ahsan Zahid, son of the mosque's imam said in a posting on the institute's Facebook page.

Three young American Muslims were shot dead on Feb. 11 in North Carolina, in the U.S. A 46-year-old American, Craig Stephen Hicks, who has described himself as "anti-theist" on social media and posted images condemning all religions, gunned down the three victims.

The victims, students in the college town of Chapel Hill, were Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. The fatal Chapel Hill shooting could be an indicator of rising Islamphobia the U.S. The investigation into the murders is ongoing and will determine whether hate played any role in the killings.