Mask-wearing attackers set the Adass Israel Synagogue ablaze before dawn on Friday, police said, gutting much of the building. Some congregants were inside the single-storey building at the time but no serious injuries were reported. The fire sparked international condemnation, including from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
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Firefighters work at the scene of a fire at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne, Australia. Reuters
Australian police said on Monday they are hunting for three suspects over an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue, which has been designated as a terrorist act.
Mask-wearing attackers set the Adass Israel Synagogue ablaze before dawn on Friday, police said, gutting much of the building.
Some congregants were inside the single-storey building at the time but no serious injuries were reported.
The fire sparked international condemnation, including from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Police have “three suspects in that matter, who we are pursuing”, Victorian police chief commissioner Shane Patton told a news conference.
Investigations over the weekend had made “significant progress”, Patton said, declining to provide further details of the operation.
Officials from the federal and state police, as well as Australia’s intelligence agency, met on Monday and concluded that the fire was “likely a terrorist incident”, the police chief said.
“Based on that, I am very confident that we now have had an attack, a terrorist attack on that synagogue,” he said.
Counter-terrorism police have joined the probe.
Under Australian law, a terrorist act is one that causes death, injury or serious property damage to advance a political, religious or ideological cause and is aimed at intimidating the public or a government.
The official designation unlocks help from other federal agencies for the investigation, said Australian National University terrorism researcher Michael Zekulin.
“Basically you get additional resources that you might not otherwis