What we know about the Colorado flamethrower attack
Dozens of protesters in Boulder, Colorado, rallying in support of Israeli captives in Gaza, were attacked on Sunday by a man using a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices, according to witnesses.
At least eight people were injured during the attack, with two left in serious condition.
Videos from the scene of the attack on social media showed black smoke clouds billowing in front of the county courthouse.
Bystanders are seen running towards the victims lying on the ground. At least one man picks up a piece of clothing to douse a fire on top of what appears to be a moving body.
Middle East Eye could not independently verify the videos.
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The suspect can be seen shirtless, wearing sunglasses and holding bottles of clear liquid. Pacing back and forth, he argues with several people in the crowd as they wait for the police to arrive.
Witnesses say they heard the man shouting "Free Palestine!” during the attack.
The suspect
The suspect was identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman. He entered the US from Egypt in August 2022 and stayed illegally after his visa expired in February 2023, according to Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.
Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022.
“The Colorado Terrorist attack suspect, Mohamed Soliman, is illegally in our country,” McLaughlin said on X.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who has spearheaded US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, posted on X that the suspect was a foreign national who "illegally overstayed (his) visa".
Soliman can be heard in some videos screaming "End Zionists!" and "They are killers!" towards several people in red T-shirts as they tend to a person lying on the ground.
Soliman was arrested at the scene and taken to a medical facility, where he was treated for minor injuries. He has been charged with a federal hate crime and murder in the first degree, plus other charges, according to court records.
Links to Israel's war on Gaza?
The FBI is investigating the attack as an “act of terror.”
Soliman, 45, was working in El Paso County. According to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, his bail has been set at $10m.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also described the Boulder incident as a "targeted terror attack", while attorney general Pam Bondi termed it "a horrific anti-Semitic attack".
Soliman’s attack marks the second in less than two weeks within the US where the suspects have invoked Israel’s war on Gaza. Two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed in Washington, DC, in May by an alleged attacker who shouted “Free Palestine”.
The alleged attacker, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez, had criticised the Israeli and US governments for the war on Gaza in a social media post on X, titled “Escalate For Gaza, Bring The War Home.”
Israel’s war on Gaza started after the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel.
Since then, Israel's war on the enclave has killed more than 54,300 Palestinians. Israel has laid siege to the Gaza Strip, and the UN warns that 100 percent of its population is at risk of famine.
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