Boy, 17, charged with Kenton synagogue arson

A 17-year-old boy from north-west London has been charged with arson after an attack on Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, the Metropolitan Police has said.

The teenager, a British national from Brent, who has not been named because of his age, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court later.

He is accused of arson not endangering life.

Footage was posted online of a figure in dark clothing setting light to a bottle of liquid and throwing it through a window of the synagogue late on Saturday night. Minor damage was caused to the building and no-one was injured.

A 19-year-old man was also arrested at a separate address in the north-west London area on suspicion of arson reckless as to whether life was endangered.

He has been bailed pending further enquiries.

The attack was the latest in a string of separate incidents that have targeted Jewish sites in London.

Four Jewish community ambulances were destroyed in an arson attack in Golders Green on 23 March, and there have been further attacks at a synagogue in Finchley and a former Jewish charity building in Hendon.

A group that calls itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, that is suspected to be Iran-backed, has claimed responsibility for most of the incidents, along with other attacks in Europe.

The Met has said it is investigating the authenticity of the claims.

The Met's counter-terrorism unit is investigating six separate incidents in recent weeks, on:

• 23 March: Four ambulances belonging to Jewish charity Haztola were destroyed in an arson attack in Golders Green
• 15 April: A brick and two bottles thought to contain petrol were thrown at Finchley Reform Synagogue
• 15 April: An ignited container was thrown at the offices of Persian news organisation Volant Media
• 17 April:A bag containing bottles of fluid was lit in the doorway of a building in Hendon formerly occupied by the charity Jewish Futures
• 18 April: Bins were set alight outside a communal block in Barnet
• 19 April: A bottle believed to be containing a type of accelerant was thrown through the window of Kenton United Synagogue on Shaftesbury Avenue, Harrow.

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