London Metropolitan Police have launched investigation after four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity were set on fire early Monday in Golders Green, London.
British police are said to be investigating the incident as an antisemitic hate crime. Detectives are working to determine whether a claim of responsibility from a group with alleged links to Iran is authentic.
Though it has not been classified as a terrorist incident, counterterror officers have been put in charge of the investigation. No one was injured in the nighttime attack, which shattered windows in nearby homes and left the vehicles charred shells.
“We are pursuing all lines of inquiry, including an online claim of responsibility by an Islamist group who have claimed other attacks across Europe and have potential Iranian state links,” said Mark Rowley, chief of London’s Metropolitan Police.
Religious and political leaders condemned what Prime Minister Keir Starmer called a “horrific” attack.
“Antisemitism has no place in our society and it’s really important that we all stand together at a moment like this,” said Starmer, who met Jewish community leaders at 10 Downing St. on Monday to discuss the response to the attack.
Officers were called to Golders Green, a north London neighborhood with a large Jewish population, after receiving reports of a fire, the Metropolitan Police force said. Four ambulances belonging to Hatzola Northwest, a volunteer organization that provides emergency medical response, were damaged, according to the London Fire Brigade.
Oxygen cylinders on the vehicles exploded, breaking windows in an adjacent apartment block. Nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution.
What appeared to be footage from a security camera showed three figures in black wearing hoods carrying a canister toward one of the ambulance before flames erupted around the vehicle. Police said they are looking for three suspects but no arrests have been made yet.
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