Eight injured in petrol bomb and 'flamethrower' attack at rally for Hamas-held hostages in Colorado

Sky News

2 days ago

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Eight people have been injured at a US rally for Israeli hostages after they were attacked by a man with a makeshift flamethrower and petrol bombs.
A group of people in Boulder, Colorado, were holding a regular demonstration to raise awareness of Hamas-held hostages in Gaza when they were allegedly targeted by a man who shouted "Free Palestine" on Sunday. The suspect was arrested at the scene.
Four women and four men aged between 52 and 88 were injured and transported to hospitals, Boulder police said.
Some of them were airlifted to hospital.
Authorities had earlier put the count of the injured at six and said at least one of them was in a critical condition.
The FBI says the attack was a targeted "act of terrorism" and named the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Soliman from El Paso County, Colorado.
He was also taken to hospital after the alleged attack.
Two senior law enforcement officials told Sky News' US partner network that Soliman is an Egyptian national who seemingly acted alone. They said he has no previous significant contact with law enforcement.
The White House described the suspect as an "illegal alien" who had received a work permit under the Biden administration despite overstaying a tourist visa.
A large part of downtown Boulder was cordoned off as sniffer dogs and the bomb squad searched for potential devices.
However, police currently believe no one else was involved
Police chief Steve Redfearn said the attack happened around 1.26pm on Sunday and that initial reports were that "people were being set on fire".
He said injuries ranged from "very serious" to "more minor".
"When we arrived we encountered multiple victims that were injured, with injuries consistent with burns," Mr Redfearn told the media.
The police chief also said he did not believe anyone else was involved.
"We're fairly confident we have the lone suspect in custody," he said.
Boulder's police chief said the attack happened as a "group of pro- Israel people" were peacefully demonstrating.
The walk is held regularly by a volunteer group called Run For Their Lives, which aims to raise awareness of the hostages who remain in Gaza.
Video from the scene showed a bare-chested man shouting and clutching two bottles after the attack.
Other footage showed him being held down and arrested by police as people doused one of the victims with water. Nearby there appears to be a large black burn mark on the ground.
Brooke Coffman, a 19-year-old student, described seeing four women on the ground with burns on their legs. She said one appeared badly burned on most of her body and had been wrapped in a flag.
She described seeing a man whom she presumed to be the attacker standing in the courtyard shirtless, holding a glass
bottle of clear liquid and shouting.
"Everybody is yelling, 'get water, get water,'" Ms Coffman said.
Lady on fire 'from head to toe'
Another eyewitness, who did not give his name, said he saw the suspect throw Molotov cocktails - an improvised bomb made from a bottle filled with petrol and stuffed with a piece of cloth to use as a fuse.
He said: "It was very strange to just hear a crash on the ground of a bottle breaking and then it sounded like a boom and then people started yelling and screaming.
"But I saw fire, I saw people screaming and crying and tripping and I saw the attacker - he had three Molotov cocktails.
"One of them he threw inside a group and one lady lit on fire from head to toe and then the other four people were also injured in the fire, but not as bad as the first one."
The eyewitness continued: "The attacker came out from the bushes and the trees... he threw another cocktail, and on the second one he lit himself on fire - I imagine accidentally.
"He seemed to have a bullet proof vest on, or some kind of vest, and then a shirt underneath it.
"And after he lit himself on fire he took off the vest and the shirt and he was shirtless.
"But he still had his Molotov cocktails in his hands ready to use them... ready to throw them and explode them on people."
Lynn Segal, another eyewitness, said: "These shoots of fire, linear, about 20 feet long, spears of fire, two of them at least, came across right into the group, about 15 feet from me."
The 72-year-old said two neighbours of hers, a husband and wife in their 80s, were at the demonstration. She added that the wife was one of the victims and appeared to be the most seriously injured.
"They're both elders in their 80s, and you can't take something like this assault to your body as easily as someone younger."
Ms Segal, who was wearing a "Free Palestine" T-shirt, said she watches the demonstrations to "try and listen" to what the volunteers are "talking about" because she is concerned about the hostages.
She added that she is concerned the attack will "divide this community".
Another eyewitness told MSNBC that he saw the suspect "lighting people on fire while spraying gasoline on them".
Brian, who is himself Jewish and asked that his last name not be made public, added that he saw victims "having their skin melt off their bodies".
A statement from Boulder's Jewish community said "an incendiary device was thrown at walkers at the Run for Their Lives walk on Pearl Street as they were raising awareness for the hostages still held in Gaza".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said in a statement this morning: "This attack was aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews.
"I trust the United States authorities to prosecute the cold blood perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law and do everything possible to prevent future attacks against innocent civilians.
"The antisemitic attacks around the world are a direct result of blood libels against the Jewish state and people, and this must be stopped."
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a prominent Jewish Democrat , said it was an antisemitic attack.
"This is horrifying, and this cannot continue. We must stand up to antisemitism," he said on X.
Boulder is a university city of about 105,000 people on the northwest edge of Denver, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
The attack follows the arrest of a Chicago-born man in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC two weeks ago.
Tensions are simmering in the US over Israel's war in Gaza.
There has been an increase in antisemitic hate crime, as well as moves by some supporters of Israel to brand pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic.
President Trump's administration has detained protesters without charge and pulled funding from elite universities that have permitted such demonstrations.