SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- Islamic leaders in Ukraine's Crimea say unknown attackers set a mosque on fire on October 15, the second such attack in as many days.
Imam Arsen Yaglyiev told RFE/RL that the latest attack took place early in the morning in the village of Ronvnoe, as local Muslims were preparing to start celebrating the major Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.
On October 14, arsonists attacked a mosque in the Crimean town of Saki.
The mufti of Crimea, Amirali-Haji Ablaev, has urged local Muslims to stay calm and united.
These incidents are the latest in a spate of attacks against mosques in Crimea, including arson incidents, since 2010.
No one has yet been held responsible for the previous attacks.
The Muslim community in Crimea is comprised mainly of some 250,000 Crimean Tatars who returned to the region in the 1980s from Central Asia, where they had been forcibly deported by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1944.
Imam Arsen Yaglyiev told RFE/RL that the latest attack took place early in the morning in the village of Ronvnoe, as local Muslims were preparing to start celebrating the major Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.
On October 14, arsonists attacked a mosque in the Crimean town of Saki.
The mufti of Crimea, Amirali-Haji Ablaev, has urged local Muslims to stay calm and united.
These incidents are the latest in a spate of attacks against mosques in Crimea, including arson incidents, since 2010.
No one has yet been held responsible for the previous attacks.
The Muslim community in Crimea is comprised mainly of some 250,000 Crimean Tatars who returned to the region in the 1980s from Central Asia, where they had been forcibly deported by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1944.
