On Saturday a bomb was thrown through the window of a Minnesota mosque. Touring the damage today, Gov. Mark Dayton called it "an act of terrorism."
Gov. Mark Dayton called the explosion at a Bloomington Islamic center "an act of terrorism" during a visit Sunday.
"What a terrible, dastardly, cowardly act was committed," Dayton said of the Saturday incident, calling the attack "a hate crime." [...]
The delegation of public officials included Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, state Rep. Andrew Carlson, DFL-Bloomington, Mayor Gene Winstead, Rep. Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American elected to the Minnesota Legislature, and U.S. Rep Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. The contingent met with almost 100 members of the center for about an hour privately indoors.
The FBI has stated that damage was caused by an "improvised explosive device"; the Star Tribune reports agents from the agency's Joint Terrorism Task Force have been on scene. There were no injuries, though that may be accidental, on the part of the bomber. The device went off in the imam's private office; although there were worshippers were in the mosque for prayers at the time, that office was unoccupied.
Though the bombing comes amid a rash of similar anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic incidents throughout the United States since Trump's inauguration, the community is rallying behind the worshippers.
Since the morning attack at the mosque, the area has been shut down as an active crime scene, but it has also attracted well-wishers, from neighbors to other members of the faith community.
“The churches around and synagogues … almost all of them came down and showed their support,” Omar said. “We are strong and we don’t want to lose hope because of things that happen.”
Several groups are offering rewards for information leading to an arrest.