TOULOUSE – Fears of anti-Muslim backlash in France are increasing following an arson attack on a Toulouse mosque, apparently in retaliation over the brutal murder of a priest earlier this week.

“Elements let us imagine that the fire can be deliberate,” the prosecutor Pierre-Yves Couilleau told Le Parisian on Wednesday, July 27.

Prosecutors in Toulouse opened an investigation for arson of a mosque under construction in Muret (Haute-Garonne).

Couilleau opened an investigation for “deliberate damage by fire” of an under-construction mosque for the Muslim Association of Muret, near Toulouse (Haute-Garonne).

The president of the association found the damage shortly before 5 am Wednesday.

The roof and doors were damaged as police found traces of burglary on the fence of the site.

However, no trace of oil, such as gasoline, was found.

Christophe Borgel, MP of Haute-Garonne, “strongly condemned the crime against a Muslim place of worship” and assured the leaders of the mosque “all [his] solidarity”.

He linked the fire to a noxious environment linked to two attacks in Nice and Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.

Muslim leaders came out shortly after the horrendous attacks to condemn them.

Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Mosque in Paris, said the attack was a “blasphemous sacrilege which goes against all the teachings of our religion.”

With a capacity of 300 worshipers, the construction of this mosque with an area of 700 square meters is planned to complete in 2017.

A scientific team will deliver the results of investigation Friday, July 29. The investigation was entrusted to the police station of Muret.