Multiple injuries in attack at Israeli hostage protest

A man yelling “Free Palestine” used a makeshift flamethrower to torch protesters rallying in support of Israeli hostages, injuring at least eight people in the US state of Colorado on Sunday.

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The FBI said it was investigating the incident as a “targeted terror attack” and identified the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman.

Investigators said the man had been taken into custody, but provided no further details about him. Police in the city of Boulder were cautious in presuming a motive.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish activist group, said the “violent antisemitic attack” occurred at Sunday’s “Run for Their Lives” event, a weekly gathering of the Jewish community in solidarity with hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.

“This attack happened at a regularly scheduled weekly peaceful event,” FBI agent Mark Michalek told reporters.

"Witnesses are reporting that the subject used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary into the crowd," he said, adding that "the suspect was heard to yell: "Free Palestine!"

Boulder Police said eight victims, four men and four women aged between 52 and 88, were transported to hospitals.

Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn told reporters that “at least one victim was very seriously injured, probably safe to say critical condition.”

The suspect was also injured before being taken into custody, Redfearn said.