London police investigate attack on Jewish ambulances as hate crime

British police said on Monday they were investigating an online claim of responsibility for an arson attack after four volunteer ambulances run by a Jewish organisation next to a London synagogue were set on fire early on Monday.

Counterterrorism police have been tasked with the inquiry into what Prime Minister Keir Starmer called a “deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack”. Here is what we know:

What happened?

The London Fire Brigade said it was alerted to vehicles on fire at Highfield Court in Golders Green, a north London area with a substantial Jewish population, at 1.40am local time.

Around 40 firefighters called to the scene found that the cylinders stored on the vehicles, belonging to the Jewish Community Ambulance service, had exploded.

The little-known Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) group, meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, claimed responsibility for the attack in a video posted on its recently created Telegram channel.

The group, which the SITE monitoring service said was aligned with Iran, has also claimed similar attacks this month in Belgium and the Netherlands.