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Kate Atkinson

Botched Australian home arson misrepresented as Dutch anti-Muslim attack

A mosque was not the target of the arson attack seen in CCTV footage shared on social media. (Con Chronis/AAP PHOTOS)

What was claimed

Footage shows an attempted arson attack on a mosque in the Netherlands.

Our verdict

False. The footage shows an arson attack on a house in South Australia.

AAP FACTCHECK - CCTV footage of a bungled arson attempt in South Australia is being misrepresented in claims it depicts an attack on a European mosque.

The false claim appears in an X post from July 23, 2025, with the caption: "In Netherlands, a group of Men attempted to burn down a Mosque at night, and Allah responded swiftly…"

In the clip, a figure dressed in black steps out of a car alongside a fence and appears to douse the area in a liquid.

The person then gets back in the car but as it drives away it becomes engulfed in flames and its occupants scramble to escape.

False Mosque arson claim
A Facebook post falsely claims the South Australian footage was actually in the Netherlands. (Facebook/AAP)

The claim is also being shared on Facebook and Instagram.

A reverse image search, however, shows the footage depicts a failed arson attack in Port Pirie, South Australia, in June 2025. 

The security camera footage was released by South Australia Police and shows the three suspects arriving at a home on Young Street, according to a Seven News article.

Occupants of the house were uninjured, but the exterior of the home was damaged by flames, South Australia Police said in a statement on Facebook.

A search of Young St on Google Maps reveals it's a residential area and not the location of a mosque.

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