By Mesut Zeyrek

COLOGNE, Germany (AA): Three mosques in Germany have suffered assaults over the past two days, a local Turkish Muslim community leader said on Tuesday.

At the Eyup Sultan Mosque in Kamen, North Rhine-Westphalia, a right-wing group desecrated the mosque walls with hateful graffiti such as “get out,” said Mustafa Kose, the top official in Kamen from the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB).

In the city of Hessen, central Germany, vandals threw rocks at the Kassel Central Mosque.

Finally, at a mosque in Bremen, northwestern Germany, a copy of the holy Quran was set on fire.

“The outer wall of the Eyüp Sultan Mosque in Kamen, North Rhine-Westphalia, was desecrated with hateful graffiti,” said Mustafa Köse, the top official in Kamen from the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB). In central Germany’s Hessen, vandals threw rocks at the Kassel Central Mosque. In a separate incident at a mosque in northwestern Germany’s Bremen, a copy of the holy Quran was set on fire.

“There is a fear in our congregations, and religious officials, they’re considering locking the doors of the mosque during prayer time,” Kose said.

Saying that police are investigating the attacks, he added that the attackers should be arrested as soon as possible.

The attacks take place amid Islamophobic groups gaining more political power in Europe, as well as deadly assaults on mosques in Western countries, including the New Zealand attack this March which took 51 lives.

* Writing by Dilara Hamit

[Map of Germany by Directorate of Intelligence CIA/Public Domain]