Police in Australia are looking for several people who they believe intentionally set fire to a synagogue in a suburb of Melbourne on Friday morning.

Two witnesses who arrived at the Adass Israel synagogue early in the morning told police officers that they saw two people wearing masks pouring a liquid accelerant on the floor inside the building. The suspected arsonists fled when they noticed one of the congregants, authorities said.

Emergency services were called to the synagogue just after 4 a.m. local time. Nobody else was inside at the time of the fire, which occurred a little over an hour before a planned morning service at the synagogue, police said.

The authorities said they were looking for three people believed to be involved.

The blaze caused significant damage to the building, and one congregant sustained a minor injury on his hand, police said. Investigators were “working to establish the exact circumstances of the fire, and at this stage believe it was a targeted incident,” police said.

— The New York Times