Suspects in custody after mosque violence in Oslo

Aftenposten:

Five persons were remanded in custody on Monday, charged with bodily harm in connection with assaults carried out at the Central Jamat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat mosque in Oslo on Friday.

Chief Kåre Stølen at Grønland police station said that a sixth person, known by name, was being sought and that they hoped to make an arrest on Monday.

"The charges are serious. A knife was used during the incident at the mosque and one of the victims has been in a ventilator after the drama," Stølen said.

According to Stølen police have the names of about 40 persons who were in on by the mosque when violence broke out on Friday. A total of six were injured when men carrying knives and bats stormed the mosque in downtown Oslo's Grønland district during Friday prayers.

A member of Oslo city council, Labor politician Khalid Mahmood, was an eyewitness to the bloody battle, which Stølen believes is part of an internal feud in the mosque's community.

Mahmood said that it was only chance that no one was killed when the mosque was stormed, with men hacking wildly around with knives.

Mahmood told newspaper VG that the mosque has for years had internal squabbling that has resulted in lawsuits. The strife is said to due to a conflict between several clans who want to administer the finances of the organization, which has about 6,000 members.

Lieutenant Erik Andersen of the Oslo police has been trying to negotiate peace at five of Oslo's mosques for the past two years. One of his assignments has been trying to calm the feud at the Jamat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat mosque, newspaper Dagbladet reports.

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