Authorities probe fire attacks on 4 NYC sites

While members of an Islamic cultural center gathered for a Sunday evening dinner, a Molotov cocktail hurled by an unknown assailant and made from a Starbucks bottle burst and shattered against the centers main entrance. Another was thrown at the sign for the centers school.It was one of a string of suspected arson attacks that police were investigating on Monday as possible bias crimes and trying to determine whether the incidents were linked. No arrests have been made.Structural damage to the Imam Al-Khoei Foundation was minimal, but some members of the center were emotionally shaken, the assistant imam said. About 80 worshippers were there when the firebomb was set off at 8:44 p.m., the third in the series of suspected arson attacks in Queens on Sunday night.We were very surprised, assistant Imam Maan Al-Sahlani said. This has never happened here before.The decades-old foundation is among the foremost Muslim institutions in New York, with branches around the world, he said. Named for one of the most influential Shiite scholars, it promotes work in development, human rights and minority rights as a general consultant to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.The center also has a full, accredited school that resumes Tuesday after holiday break, and some parents were concerned about the attack, Al-Sahlani said. The sprawling complex has two minarets rising high with the Van Wyck Expressway as a backdrop. On Monday, the concrete overhang outside the main entrance was blackened from smoke damage and there was minor damage to the area near the sign, as yellow police tape fluttered.But Al-Sahlani, 36, dressed in traditional clerics robes, said the center was working with authorities and trying to move forward. Worshippers prayed and milled around, and the front doors were wide open.