KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — A KK Super Mart branch in Sungai Isap, Kuantan, Pahang, was reported to have been firebombed at 5am today, the second such attack amid Muslim anger over the sale of socks that had “Allah” embroidered on them.
Malaysiakini first reported the incident this afternoon, citing confirmation from Kuantan district police chief Wan Mohd Zahari Wan Busu. The police cannot determine the number of perpetrators yet but is not ruling that it could involve more than one person.
The incident was not caught on the shop's security camera, according to the report.
The bomb may have been flung from a distance to avoid being caught by KK Mart’s security camera, Wan Mohd Zahari was reported saying. The police are currently canvassing the area for CCTV recordings from nearby stores.
“The bomb, which landed on the carpet in front of the store, ignited and caused a small flame. No one was injured in the incident,” the Kuantan OCPD told Malaysiakini.
The first attack took place in Bidor, Perak, on Tuesday. A KK Mart branch there was reportedly targeted by a failed Molotov cocktail early that morning.
Perak police told a press conference that same day they are tracking a man driving a dark-coloured vehicle with the red sticker of delivery company Lalamove for the attempted Molotov cocktail attack.
Perak police chief CP Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said the store’s CCTV showed the man stopped his vehicle along the store at around 5.35am and threw a glass bottle suspected of containing kerosene oil inside the shop before fleeing the area.
This incident came even as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim urged the public against playing vigilantes in a message meant to calm anger from conservatives who saw the controversy as an act of provocation.
Moderate Muslims, however, have condemned the attack. They called the response disproportionate and that it does not reflect Islamic teachings of tolerance and patience.KK Mart's founder and group executive chairman of KK Group, Datuk Seri Chai Kee Kan, was charged under Section 298 of the Penal Code for deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of others, alongside his wife. Both claimed trial.
KK Group owns the KK Mart convenience store chain.
