No let-up in arson attacks

The police are investigating another case of arson after an unknown person or persons threw flammable liquid at the door of a private residence in Triq San Tumas, Fgura, on Saturday night.

The fire was extinguished by the house owner himself and no one was hurt.

The incident is the latest in a series. The police have arraigned two suspects in the case of an attack on the Qormi mayor's residence in January and another last week on a garage in Birkirkara. A 27-year-old man from Birzebbuga and a 20-year-old man from Birkirkara have been accused of the two cases respectively.

The most publicised arson attacks were those on cars belonging to the Jesuit community.

On March 12 seven vehicles were set alight at St Aloysius College, there was the attack on April 11 on the car and residence of Katrine Camilleri, a lawyer working with the Jesuit Refugee Service; and attacks on the residences of newspaper editor Saviour Balzan and of columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The motives behind the arson attacks could be varied, police sources said yesterday.

On February 13, the police anti-terrorism unit and Criminal Investigation Department officers also investigated an arson attack on one of the bungalows of the Danish Holiday Complex in Mellieha, when six petrol bombs - consisting of one-litre soft drinks bottles filled with kerosene - were used. The attack was suspected to be linked to the storm which followed the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed.

On March 6 unidentified persons threw a blazing tyre in the side garden of a residence in Pembroke. Two cars parked in Sliema and Qormi were destroyed by fire on the night of March 31.

On April 14 fire badly damaged a car and the residence of a policeman in Siggiewi.

Firemen were called out in the early hours of the morning on April 20 to put out a fire which engulfed a vehicle in Marsascala. Another car went up in flames on April 21, at Zabbar; the vehicle belonged to a police sergeant.

On April 28, unknown individuals broke into a house in Hamrun and started a fire inside. A number of jerry cans were found inside the premises.

A boathouse in Qawra and a car in Valletta were also the target of arsonists on May 2 and, on May 6, a car was torched in Hamrun.

On May 14, a car belonging to a soldier assigned guard duties at the Marsa open centre was set ablaze and the police are looking for an immigrant in connection with the case.

A total of 124 cases of arson were reported to the police last year. There were 119 in 2004, 118 in 2003, 92 in 2002 and 93 in 2001.