2 men and teen held in U.K. custody over Jewish charity ambulance attack

Two young men and a boy were ordered Saturday to remain in custody after appearing in court on arson charges in the torching of four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity in London.

The March 23 blaze in Golders Green, a north London neighborhood with a large Jewish population, destroyed four ambulances belonging to the volunteer organization Hatzola Northwest, which provides emergency care in the area. Oxygen cylinders in the vehicles exploded, breaking windows in an adjacent apartment block.

The fire was brought under control, and no injuries were reported. 

British men Hamza Iqbal, 20, and Rehan Khan, 19, and a 17-year-old of dual British-Pakistani nationality, all from east London, were charged Friday with arson and being reckless as to whether life would be endangered. The younger man cannot be named for legal reasons because he is under 18. He will be held in a youth detention center.

The suspects did not enter pleas at the 45-minute hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court on Saturday. The court also heard that a fourth suspect was arrested in connection with the fire.

Counterterrorism police are investigating the fire as an antisemitic hate crime. They are looking into a claim of responsibility by a group with potential links to Iran, but have not declared it an act of terrorism.

“There is significant evidence that this was a premeditated and targeted attack against the Jewish community,” prosecutor Emma Harraway told the court.

The three defendants are set to appear at London’s Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey, on April 24.

Two other men were previously released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.

The U.K. and Europe have seen a rise in antisemitic incidents in recent months, including an explosion outside a Jewish school in Amsterdam and nighttime attacks in front of synagogues in the Belgian city of Liege and the Dutch port city of Rotterdam earlier this month. 

In early March, two men were charged with carrying out “hostile” surveillance of the London’s Jewish community on behalf of Iran. Later that same month, officials in France said they foiled a suspected terror plot aimed at Jewish targets.