A building housing a mosque and school in the Twin Cities is a complete loss after an overnight fire, the facility manager said.

Crews were battling the fire when a WCCO photographer arrived at Baitul Hikmah Academy in Prior Lake around 2:30 a.m.

According to the Prior Lake Fire Department, no one was inside the building at the time and no firefighters or civilians were injured.

The State Fire Marshal and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating because the fire occurred at a religious institution. The cause is not yet known.

The fire department said the roof collapsed, and the facility's manager said the building is flooded. 

One neighbor said the commotion from the fire woke her up.

"We had no idea, no idea what was going on," neighbor Nancy Ufken said. "Then, when we started watching over by the mosque, we could start seeing smoke. And we did see some flames, but not until quite a bit later."

The private Muslim school is K-12 and serves about 200 students. Children from across the south metro attend it, neighbors said.

Baitul Hikmah has two other campuses. All three student bodies will be learning remotely on Monday.

Seven fire departments responded to the fire.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said his organization has asked mosques across the state to "increase their security protocols" as a safety precaution. 

"Parents, teachers and students are heartbroken," Touhid Kahn, a board member of the mosque, said in a news conference on Monday afternoon. "Many of our elders who built this institution by hand are grieving deeply."

Kahn said mosque and school officials will set up donation methods for rebuilding efforts.  

Community members say the place of worship is beloved in the neighborhood.

"We have a very good relationship with them," Prior Lake Fire Chief Rick Steinhaus said. "We do a lot of community events with them. As a department, we're sad to see this happen."