Police probe attacks on 5 UK mosques
Five mosques in the central English city of Birmingham have been targeted in a string of violent attacks overnight and into the morning, the police said yesterday.
Reports of a man smashing windows with a sledgehammer on Birchfield Road were received at 02:30 GMT, BBC reported quoting police.
Counter-terrorism officers are investigating attacks on the mosques in five different areas in the north of the city, West Midlands Police said in a statement.
The force added the incidents "are being treated as linked".
Read more: 49 killed, 20 seriously wounded in New Zealand mosque shootings
"At the moment we don't know the motive for last night's attacks," said Chief Constable Dave Thompson in a statement.
"What I can say is that the force and the counter terrorism unit are working side-by-side to find whoever is responsible."
UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid called the vandalism "deeply concerning and distressing", while MP for Birmingham Ladywood Shabana Mahmood said the attacks were "truly terrible".
Officers were first alerted in the early hours of yesterday to reports of a man smashing windows with a sledgehammer at one of the places of worship, police said.
Following reports of a similar attack at another mosque in a nearby neighbourhood, officers launched targeted patrols and discovered "further damage" at three other sites.
"Forensic officers are working to identify evidence, and CCTV is being examined," the West Midlands force added.
British national police chiefs last week announced officers were providing "reassurance patrols" around mosques in the immediate aftermath of Friday's deadly gun rampage in New Zealand.
Anti-racism groups have warned Islamophobia is on the rise in Britain and spurring a spike in far-right activity in the country.
A report released last month by the Hope Not Hate charity cited a poll which found more than a third of Britons see Islam as "generally a threat to the British way of life".
In another recent incident, Mohammed Mahmoud -- an imam who won praise for shielding the perpetrator of a 2017 deadly terror attack against a north London mosque -- reported he was spat at and abused this week. Mahmoud said he was targeted Monday while returning home from a solidarity event for the New Zealand massacre with other religious leaders, as well as interior minister Sajid Javid and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
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