UK’s counterterror police probe another London arson attack

UK counterterror officers are investigating an arson attack on a shop in an area of London with a large Jewish population, police said on Saturday, following similar incidents in recent weeks.No one was injured in the fire on late Friday in Hendon, in the northwest of Britain’s capital, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement, without specifying the business targeted.It comes after police arrested two people over a separate arson attack on a synagogue in nearby Finchley, on Wednesday, amid an upsurge in antisemitic incidents in Britain.A police forensics officer works at the Finchley-reform-synagogue" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="116852" data-entity-type="organization">Finchley Reform Synagogue in the North Finchley area of north London on Wednesday after an attempted arson attack. Photo: AFPIn late March, four Jewish community ambulances were torched in Golders Green, also in north London.“At this stage last night’s arson is not being linked to other incidents in the northwest London area over the last week or last month’s arson in Golders Green, but counterterrorism officers are leading due to the similarities of each attack,” Helen Flanagan of the Met’s counterterrorism unit said in a statement.Police were called to the scene shortly after 10.30pm on Friday after a man was spotted approaching a row of shops carrying a plastic bag later found to contain three bottles containing “fluid”, the Met said.He placed the bag by a building before lighting the items inside, it added.