The imam of Oslo's main mosque, Nemat Ali Shah, was reported to have been attacked with axe by unknown assailant as he returned home from the Central Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat mosque in the centre of the Norwegian capital late on Monday.
AFP reports that the 57-year-old clergyman was recuperating in hospital on Tuesday after a masked assailant repeatedly h*cked him, causing him serious wounds to his face and hands.
It was gathered that the religious leader was in a stable condition on Tuesday after undergoing an operation on Monday night, and was soon to be discharged from hospital.
Police on the matter told newsmen on Tuesday that they were treating the attack as a murder attempt, but stressed that they did not yet know whether the attack was a hate crime carried out by anti-Islamic extremists, or somehow tied up to his position at the mosque.
* Inside the Central Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat mosque in Oslo, Norway
Metlid noted that there had been clashes in 2005 and 2006 over his position as imam, which had previously led to violence. She said that she hoped police would be able to start questioning Shah later today.
AFP reports that the 57-year-old clergyman was recuperating in hospital on Tuesday after a masked assailant repeatedly h*cked him, causing him serious wounds to his face and hands.
It was gathered that the religious leader was in a stable condition on Tuesday after undergoing an operation on Monday night, and was soon to be discharged from hospital.
Police on the matter told newsmen on Tuesday that they were treating the attack as a murder attempt, but stressed that they did not yet know whether the attack was a hate crime carried out by anti-Islamic extremists, or somehow tied up to his position at the mosque.
"It is too early to say anything about it," Grete Lien Metlid, head of the violent and s*xual crimes unit at the Oslo police said in a press conference. "It may be a hate crime, but we have no evidence to say anything more about that now, or about whether the attack was linked to his work as an imam."
* Inside the Central Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat mosque in Oslo, Norway
Metlid noted that there had been clashes in 2005 and 2006 over his position as imam, which had previously led to violence. She said that she hoped police would be able to start questioning Shah later today.
However, there are confusion if the Imam had been attacked with an axe or a knife, as the police officer stated it was "a sharp object".
Police said that the attacker had been wearing a green and black jacked, a hooded top, blacking jogging pants and white and grey shoes.
According to Aftenposten newspaper, Shah was attacked after he left his home 50 metres from the mosque to go and lead the evening prayers.
When he did not show up, those gathered to pray tried calling his mobile phone and raised the alarm when he did not answer. By that time, he had already been able to crawl back into his home, where he was picked up by an ambulance.
Ghulam Sarwar, the mosque's chairman, said that Shah had been hit on one side of his face, and wounded under one eye.
"He also had injuries to his fingers and hands, which suggests that he tried to defend himself with his fists," Sarwar told Aftenposten.
It was gathered that the mosque has been both the focus of internal conflict within the Muslim community, and attacks by far-right, anti-Islamic extremists.
Last September, a pig's head was left outside the mosque on Friday, the day most Muslims go to pray.
The same month, another of Oslo's mosques, The World Islamic Mission mosque, received an email threatening a campaign of mosque-burning across Norway
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