In a sequence of shocking, suspected coordinated attacks targeting local Muslim community figures in Bolton, northern England, a suspicious device was discovered outside a local mosque, followed hours later by a firebomb arson attack on the home of a prominent local imam. The discovery of the suspicious package, which contained a battery pack, was made early Wednesday morning outside Zakariyya Jaam’e Masjid, local outlet Manchester Evening News first reported.
By the end of the same day, the residential property of 42-year-old imam Hassan Patel, also located within Bolton, had been firebombed in a deliberate attack. Captured closed-circuit television footage documents a masked man, clad in a helmet and all-black clothing, approaching the driveway of Patel’s home. The footage shows the suspect lighting an accelerant-laden object, smashing a front window of the property and throwing the lit item inside.
Patel resides in the home with his wife, four children, and nephew, bringing the total number of people in the property at the time of the attack to seven. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) confirmed that all seven residents managed to escape the attack without physical injury, and emergency services safely evacuated the entire family.
In a statement following the attack, Patel expressed that his family has been left devastated by the brazen, cold-hearted act, which was carried out in broad daylight. He emphasized the attack was an intentional, dangerous act that deliberately put every member of his family at mortal risk. Patel, a long-time Bolton resident who has a track record of interfaith engagement with people across all religious and secular backgrounds, noted that law enforcement have so far not classified the incident as a hate crime. Even so, he argued that all potential motives must be examined thoroughly, with no lines of inquiry ruled out before investigations are complete.
As of the latest update, GMP confirmed that a full criminal investigation is active and ongoing, and no arrests have yet been made. Detective Chief Inspector Mike Sharples of GMP released an official statement stressing that attacks of this nature have no place in the region, and no member of any local community should ever be made to feel unsafe, threatened or intimidated in their own home. Sharples acknowledged the understandable anxiety the incident has sparked across Bolton’s wider community, adding that officers are working at full speed to identify and prosecute the perpetrators. He confirmed that the attack is being treated as a deliberate, targeted act, and there is no ongoing threat to the general public. GMP has issued a public appeal for any members of the public with relevant footage or information about the attack to come forward to assist with the investigation.
The dual incidents in Bolton have already sparked significant political fallout, with local leaders and party figures weighing in on the attack and the perceived lack of national response. Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party, who was born in nearby Salford, publicly criticized Prime Minister Keir Starmer for failing to issue any public condemnation of the Bolton attacks. Writing on the social platform X, Polanski called the silence disgraceful, arguing that a troubling double standard has emerged: some attacks are met with widespread cross-party condemnation, blanket media coverage and urgent emergency response, while others are ignored entirely by senior national leaders.
Local Labour MP for Bolton Yasmin Qureshi also spoke out, noting that the back-to-back targeting of a mosque and a local imam has left Muslim residents across the town feeling anxious about walking public streets and bringing their children to worship. Qureshi refused to downplay the nature of the attacks, stating that when a mosque and an imam’s home are targeted within hours of one another, the message to the local Muslim community is clear, and it is a message she recognizes too. “Islamophobia has no place in Bolton. None. Our Muslim community is part of the fabric of this town, and an attack on them is an attack on all of us,” Qureshi said.
The Bolton incidents come one day after violent race riots broke out in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, where hundreds of masked far-right rioters set fire to homes and vehicles owned primarily by ethnic minority residents. Rioters even set up informal checkpoints to stop and search vehicles for foreign nationals, following the arrest of a Sudanese asylum seeker charged with attempted murder earlier that same Tuesday. The suspect, Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old who has been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK, was filmed carrying out a knife attack on a man on a residential Belfast street, an act many political commentators have described as an attempted beheading.
Following the Belfast attack, high-profile far-right activist Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) and X owner Elon Musk both publicly called for anti-migrant protests across the UK. Anti-migrant demonstrations were subsequently held in Belfast, Glasgow and Southampton this week, raising tensions around interfaith and immigrant community safety across the country.