PERTH – Messages of support have poured the Muslim community in Perth, Western Australia, after cars were set alight at a local mosque on Tuesday night as children prayed just meters away in what a local imam described as an “act of hate.”

“I deplore and I cannot condemn strongly enough any attacks of that kind,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told radio station 6PR.

Setting light to four cars, vandals also scrawled “F*** Islam” on a wall outside the mosque in Thornlie, Perth, which is adjacent to the Australian Islamic College.

Hundreds of local Muslims had gathered there for evening prayers.

Western Australian police confirmed four cars were set on fire using an accelerant. One of the vehicles had been completely destroyed in the blaze.

“It is believed an accelerant was used to start the fire,” Western Australia police said in a statement, adding that an investigation was under way.

As the attack occurred, worshipers ran outside when they heard one of the cars explode.

“Most people were in dismay and alarm, (asking), ‘why us really? Don’t they know that there’s children inside?’ This is a place of prayer,” Thornlie Mosque Imam Yahya Adel Ibrahim told CNN.

“The fear and apprehension — the neighborhood is quite traumatized by it. This is a residential area, there are homes ten feet across the road.”

“This, undoubtedly, is a criminal act of hate,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

Outpouring Support

A few hours after the attack, the mosque imam said there had been an outpouring of support from the Perth community in the past 24 hours, from people of all faiths and ages.

“(After the attack) the imam continued to lead the prayers and everyone stayed behind,” he said. “It was not just an act of defiance but an act of therapy and self help… I’m sure the mosque will have many more people there today”

Hundreds of people condemned the attacks on social media, describing them as “disgusting” and cowardly.

“We are heartbroken and angered that you would be attacked like this,” Western Australian pastor Jarrod McKenna wrote on his Facebook page.

“Places of worship are sanctuaries, safe places, places to be vulnerable, places to pray and express with others what is most dear to our hearts.”

Executive Principal of the Australian Islamic College, Dr Abdullah Khan, said the attack was a “hate crime” that hurt the school community.

“It does hurt, people are shocked and disappointed,” he told Perth Now.

“The way I see it, it was more targeted at people praying than the school because the school was not in operation at that time.”

Dr Khan said the incident was the “most serious” the school had experienced despite being vandalized in previous years.

“It’s quite disheartening. We also understand a small fraction of one per cent of the mainstream community is behind this and the perpetrators of this attack are definitely not representative of the mainstream Australian community.”

Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert condemned the attack and said it was “unacceptable”.

“I am devastated to hear of the events that happened in Western Australia, in Perth, a city which I’ve always valued for its multiculturalism and for the strengths of all the members of our community that live and work alongside all of us,” Siewert said.