UK police arrest 2 in connection with weekend arson attack

British police have arrested two teenagers in connection with a weekend arson attack on a synagogue in northwest London, as Jewish leaders express concern about a wave of incidents targeting their community.

Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes of London’s Metropolitan Police Service on Monday said officers arrested two young men, aged 19 and 17, overnight in relation to the attack on the Kenton United Synagogue in the borough of Harrow.

The department has made 15 arrests related to six attacks on Jewish targets and a Persian-language media organisation critical of Iran’s Government that occurred over the past few weeks, he said in an interview with the BBC.

One “serious line of inquiry” is that Iran is hiring local criminals to carry out these attacks amid tensions in the West Asia, including the US-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic, Jukes said.