A bomb has exploded near the entrance of an Islamic school in the Netherlands, after a weekend of anti-Islamic attacks apparently sparked by the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

A door was blown away and windows were shattered when the blast occurred around 3:30am (2.30 GMT), near the Tarieq Ibnoe Ziyad Islamic school at Eindhoven, which police believe was motivated by the killing of van Gogh, who was stabbed to death last week by a suspected Islamic radical.

Alexander Sakkers, the mayor of Eindhoven, said he was shocked by the incident, telling journalists it was a "cowardly deed".

"One single person who pulls off such an idiot act; should not affect Dutch society," he said, adding that police will step up their surveillance of mosques and Islamic schools in Eindhoven, which lies about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Amsterdam.

A number of anti-Islamic attacks occurred across the Netherlands over the weekend, including two attempts at burning down mosques in the towns of Huizen and Breda and vandals smearing red paint on a social centre that helps Muslim immigrants.

Earlier in the week, a small fire was set at a mosque in Utrecht and a pig's head was left in a plastic bag outside a mosque in Amsterdam.

Mr van Gogh, the great great grandnephew of Vincent van Gogh, was shot and stabbed in a "ritual killing" in broad daylight in an Amsterdam street on Tuesday. His throat was slit with a butcher's knife, and a five-page letter was pinned to his chest with another knife.

The filmmaker was a controversial figure in the Netherlands and Belgium, who had angered the Muslim community by making a film critical of Islam and portraying an abused woman with script from the Koran painted on her skin.

Police have announced they would prosecute Mr van Gogh's suspected killer, a 26-year-old Dutch-born man of Moroccan origin, named as Mohammed B, under antiterrorism laws, recognising the killing as the first recent terrorist attack on Dutch soil. Another eight Islamic radicals have been arrested over the killing, and police have connected it with the terrorist bombing in Casablanca.

The killing has increased community tensions in the Netherlands, with 30 people arrested for inciting hatred against Muslims. An internet book of condolences for Mr Van Gogh had to be closed because it was filled with 5,000 messages of anti-Islamic abuse.

Dutch leaders who have received death threats since the murder include Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who foresook Islam, and made a film with Mr Van Gogh criticising the Koran for sanctioning domestic violence; Geert Wilders, a right-wing populist opposed to Turkey joining the EU; Rita Verdonk, the Immigration Minister; and Job Cohen, Amsterdam's mayor. Ms Hirsi Ali and Mr Wilders have both been taken to safe houses.

Government ministers have held emergency talks and met with Islamic leaders to try to calm tensions that had been growing since the murder two years ago of Pym Fortuyn, the anti-immigration populist.

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