The Hindu Temple of St. Louis in Missouri was attacked twice in less than a week with Molotov cocktail bombs, charring a section of the door and damaging a window and the carpeting inside respectively, according to the St. Louis County Police Department and temple authorities. “We have registered a case of Arson of the Second Degree. There is nothing yet to suggest hate crime. But since there were two incidents of similar nature in a span of six days, we are also not ruling out that angle,” Mason Keller, spokesman for the County Police Department, told News India-Times.

“Apart from our detectives, the case is being investigated by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and the AFT (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms),” he added. According to Krishna Reddy, president of the temple’s board of trustees, around 300 people were scheduled to attend day-long Maha Shivratri prayers on the morning of March 1, just a few hours after the second firebomb was hurled at the temple.

“The incident caused some concern, but the prayers went off well. We had some 200-300 people in attendance,” Reddy told News India-Times.

According to Keller, in the first incident, a bottle of beer or wine containing accelerants with a wick on top was set afire and thrown against the front door of the temple at 725 Weidman Road in West St. Louis County in the early hours of Feb. 23. “The fire extinguished itself out. But it damaged a part of the front door --- an expensive one, by the looks of it,” Keller said.

In the second incident, a brick was hurled at a window after which a similar Molotov cocktail bomb was thrown inside, the spokesman said.

“There was some damage to the frame of the window, a portion of the glass was shattered and the fire damaged a part of the rug inside. The damage was discovered at 3:49 a.m. when the burglar alarm went off,” he added.

“We are looking at some possible suspects and leads. But there has been no graffiti or claim to suggest possible hate crime, even though we are looking into that,” Keller said. Reddy said after the first incident, the authorities had installed surveillance cameras. “The cameras showed the Molotov cocktail damaging the window and also the fire, but no person was visible.”

The tape has been handed over to the authorities, he said, adding that they had received no threats, notes or graffiti.