Unidentified suspects hurled Molotov cocktails into a mosque in Germany's Hessen late Sunday. No injuries were reported in the accident at the Mimar Sinan Mosque, located in a compound at the Turkish Islamic Culture Assocation. Hessen police said the suspect or suspects hurled Molotov cocktails at the building in the city of Bebra but they failed to set the building on fire, though they significantly damaged the exterior. An inquiry is underway.

Fatih Evren, a member of the association where the mosque is run by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB), which oversees Turkish-built mosques in Germany, is located, said they noticed the attack after seeing the traces of flames on the walls in the morning. "The upper floor of the building was made of wood and they deliberately hurled Molotov cocktail there. Thank God, it did not catch fire," Evren told Anadolu Agency. The mosque, opened in 1983 and rebuilt in 2000, was last subject to arson in 1996, Evren said.

The incident comes in the wake of what the DİTİB has claimed a defamation campaign by German politicians. the DİTİB was critical of the statements "that amount to outright hostility" after three politicians from different political parties claimed the association was under the influence of the Turkish government and therefore, should not be allowed to shape Islamic religious education in Germany.

Mosques in Germany, where anti-Muslim sentiment accompanying the influx of Muslim refugees rises, are occasionally subject to attacks, ranging from Molotov cocktails to tossing of pig's heads. A Turkish parliamentary committee investigating the targeting of mosques found some 297 attacks against mosques between 2001 and 2014 and they mostly targeted Turkish mosques.