Muslim community center in UK targeted with 'deliberate' arson attempt

LONDON

A Muslim community building next to a mosque in Worcester faced a 'deliberate act of arson,' A Muslim welfare association said in a statement on Thursday.

Community building, next to a new mosque, belonging to Worcester Muslim Welfare Association (WMWA) in Worcester, West Midlands of England, was targeted by a male suspect early hours on Thursday.

WMWA said in a statement that the building was the Unity House Community Hub on Stanley Road, Worcester, which was subjected to a "deliberate act of arson."

Video clips circulating on social media show a man setting a fire near the building before running away as flames grow.

The group said the matter has been reported to West Mercia Police, adding that the incident has caused "enormous distress across our community."

"We cannot and will not view it in isolation," said the statement, recalling that this came during the holy month of Ramadan, shortly after the deeply disturbing attack on a mosque in Manchester.

"We believe this to be a racially and religiously motivated Islamophobic act of hatred."

In Manchester, police arrested one man and began searching for another on Wednesday who are believed to have carried weapons, including an axe and a knife, into the Manchester Central Mosque during Tarawih prayers.