A 22-year-old woman has been charged with Arson Attack on a mosque in Iowa on Thursday. The accused Aisha Ismail’s bail was set at $25,000. She was released on Friday. Investigators are still unclear about the woman's motive to set the mosque on fire, as she too is a devout Muslim and frequents the mosque regularly.

According to a report by Info Wars, the incident at Islamic Center of Des Moines took place at 10 am on June 22.

The arson attack at the hands of Ismail

On Thursday morning, police arrested Ismail on the charge of suspected arson. Ismail did not succeed in a large-scale attack and only a patch of carpet succumbed to flames.

Both the police and the firefighters were called out to the mosque. But by the time the firefighters arrived, the members of the mosque had already extinguished the flames.

When the police arrived at the scene, Ismail was nowhere to be seen. They assume that the culprit fled knowing that her actions would lead to her subsequent arrest. Police were able to identify her as the culprit by using the mosque’s security camera recordings. The CCTV showed Ismail pouring lighter fluid on a carpet before setting it on fire.

The culprit was arrested and charged for her actions

Police later found Ismail at an apartment located in West Des Moines. She was arrested and brought to the Polk County Jail and booked.

Her charges are first-degree arson. Ismail remained in police custody until early Friday morning.

Ismail's motives remain unclear and police doubt that this was an act of hate crime as she was a member of the mosque herself. Sergeant Paul Parizek released a statement in which he said that he thought Ismail’s arson attack was meant to be more of a statement.

The fire was relatively small and, according to the investigators, it was not intended to harm anyone or burn down the mosque.

This is not the first attack on a mosque but this incident is unusual, as it was carried out by one of the mosque members. According to The Des Moines Register, Ismail regularly attended her mosque.

Investigators are still unclear about her motives, but they said it would probably be revealed during the trial. Investigators also said that the attack was pre-planned Ismail clearly had the attack planned as she brought lighter fluid with her on the day.

The attack on the Islamic Center of Des Moines comes shortly after the attack carried out by Darren Osbourne in London. Osbourne targeted members of the public who were outside the London Mosque. Unlike Ismail, his attack lead to the death of one man and the injury of many more.
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