Firefighters rushed to the Islamic Society of Palm Springs, in the town of Coachella, shortly after smoke and flames were seen coming out of the building at around noon, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County Fire Department told AFP. The incident comes nine days after a Muslim couple in San Bernardino, about an hour from Palm Springs, killed 14 people and injured 22 in an assault that is being investigated by the FBI as a terror attack. The rampage has raised fears of a backlash against the Muslim community in the United States, especially in the wake of anti-Muslim rhetoric by Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump.
