Mosque explosion has nerves on edge THE ASSOCIATED PRESS — MINNEAPOLIS

The Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in suburban Minneapolis, like other U.S. mosques, occasionally receives threatening calls and emails. But leaders say they’re more frightened after a weekend attack in which an explosive shattered windows and damaged a room as worshippers prepared for morning prayers.

“We feel like it’s much deeper and scarier than like something random,” Mohamed Omar, the centre’s executive director, said Sunday. “It’s so scary.”

No one was hurt in the blast, which happened around 5 a.m. Saturday. Windows of the imam’s office were shattered, either by the blast or by an object thrown through them. The FBI is seeking suspects and trying to determine whether the incident was a hate crime.

Gov. Mark Dayton, who joined other public officials and community leaders for a meeting inside the building Sunday, described the bombing as “so wretched” and “not Minnesota.”

“This is an act of terrorism. This is against the law in America,” Dayton said at a news conference afterward.

Besides serving as a place of worship and community centre, the mosque in Bloomington, just south of Minneapolis, has a fitness centre, gymnasiums for boys and girls, a football field and adjoins a city park, Omar said. He estimates the mosque holds up to 300 worshippers for Friday prayers. The community centre also hosts computer classes, a basketball league, religious classes, lectures and other events.