Police believe a fire which destroyed the roof of a mosque may have been in revenge for the alleged terrorist plot to blow up planes leaving UK airports.
At about 3.30am yesterday, police and fire crews were called to the Al-Birr Masjid Mosque in Sarum Hill, Basingstoke, Hants, after the roof had caught fire.
The blaze took 16 fire-fighters almost two hours to put out, according to Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service. Nobody was injured in the fire.
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Watts, of Hampshire Police, said the fire was being treated as arson and a full investigation was under way.
He said: "In this current climate, we cannot rule out the possibility that this incident is related to the recent security threat.
"Therefore we are treating it extremely seriously and dealing with it appropriately."
Superintendent Chris Brown added that the force was talking to local community leaders in a bid to prevent problems escalating in the area. Last year, two men were charged with racially aggravated assault and racially aggravated criminal damage to a vehicle parked at the mosque. No one was available at the mosque for comment yesterday.
