‘Set on fire’: Horror terror attack unfolds in US city

Multiple people have been set on fire in an incident US authorities are treating as a terror attack.

Multiple people were set on fire in an incident US authorities are treating as a terror attack which targeted pro-Israel protesters.

Witnesses have described a man armed with molotov cocktails targeting people taking part in a rally in the city of Boulder, Colorado on Sunday.

Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said officers were called to the city’s courthouse about 1.30pm, local time, where they found several people with injuries including burns.

“The initial callers indicated that there was a man with a weapon and people were being set on fire,” he said.

The suspect – who has since been identified as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman – was taken into custody “without incident”, he said.

A man arrested at the scene of a suspected terror attack. Picture: X

The suspect allegedly threw molotov cocktails at participants in a commemoration for Israeli hostages. Picture: X

Denver FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek said Mr Solimon used a “makeshift flamethrower”, threw an incendiary device and was heard to yell “Free Palestine” during the attack.

He said there were six victims – aged 67 to 88 – targeted at what was a “regularly scheduled, weekly, peaceful event”.

Authorities have reported one victim was seriously injured while others received “more minor” injuries.

“It is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism,” Special Agent Michalek said.

“Sadly attacks like this are becoming too common across the country.”

Footage taken from the scene appears to show a shirtless man holding clear liquids in two bottles yelling at the crowd.

He can be heard screaming “End Zionists!”, “Palestine is Free!” and “They are killers!” towards several people in red T-shirts as they tend to a person lying on the ground.

In other clips, screams of panic can be heard as people tend to what appear to be burn victims.

Police arrest a man at the scene of the attack. Picture: X

Buckets and bottles of water were poured on one person who was huddled on the ground.

Other images showed black smoke billowing above a park.

FBI Director Kash Patel took to X to declare the agency was “aware of and fully investigating a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado”.

Local Police Chief Redfearn had earlier insisted it was “way too early to speculate” on a motive behind the incident.

At a press conference held later on Sunday, he said officers were working to clear parts of downtown Boulder for potential threats.

“A lot of people are upset and questioning how this happened and why,” he said.

“All I know is Boulder has recovered from acts of violence, and we will again.

“I urge this community to come together. Now is not the time to be divisive.”

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish activist group, said on X that it was “aware of reports of an attack at today’s Boulder Run for Their Lives event”.

Law enforcement officials at the Pearl Street Mall, in Boulder. Picture: AP Photo/David Zalubowski

That event, it said, was a “weekly meeting of Jewish community members to run/walk in support of the hostages” seized during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the war in Gaza.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York voiced outrage at the attack.

“Terrorism against Jews does not stop at the Gaza border – it is already burning the streets of America,” he said in a statement.

“Today, in Boulder, Colorado, Jewish people marched with a moral and humane demand: to return the hostages. In response, the Jewish protesters were brutally attacked, with an attacker throwing a molotov cocktails at them,” he said.

“Make no mistake – this is not a political protest, this is terrorism.”

The Boulder incident follows the shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC last month.