In a significant development, British police detained two men on Wednesday in relation to an arson attack targeting four ambulances operated by a Jewish charity. The incident is currently under investigation as a potential antisemitic hate crime.
The Metropolitan Police reported that the suspects, aged 45 and 47, were apprehended in London on charges of arson with the intent to endanger life. Both individuals are now being questioned at a police station in the city.
Commander Helen Flanagan, who leads Counter Terrorism Policing in London, emphasized the importance of these arrests, describing them as “an important breakthrough in the investigation.” However, she also highlighted that surveillance footage from the scene indicates the involvement of a third individual.
While the authorities have not yet classified the incident as a terrorist attack, they are probing a claim of responsibility made by a group that purportedly has links to Iran.
The fire erupted early Monday morning in Golders Green, a neighborhood in London known for its substantial Jewish community. The blaze ravaged four ambulances belonging to Hatzola Northwest, a volunteer organization. The fire’s intensity caused oxygen cylinders within the vehicles to explode, shattering windows in a nearby apartment building.
The blaze early on Monday morning in Golders Green, a London neighborhood with a large Jewish population, consumed four ambulances belonging to the volunteer organization Hatzola Northwest. Oxygen cylinders on the vehicles exploded, breaking windows in an adjacent apartment block.
Also shattered was the community’s shaky sense of security, already strained by wars in the Middle East and what many say is soaring hatred of Jews.
The UK has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to conduct attacks on European soil targeting opposition media outlets and the Jewish community.
Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service says more than 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots were disrupted in the year to October.
Police are probing a claim of responsibility posted on social media by a group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, which translates as the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right.
Israel’s government has described it as a recently founded group with suspected links to pro-Iran networks that has also claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley said detectives are investigating the claim but it is too early to attribute the attack to the Iranian state.
