Counter-terror police have launched an investigation after arsonists attacked a Jewish business in London last night.
The same Islamist group that launched drones at the Israeli Embassy on Friday has claimed responsibility for the attack, posting a video on what appears to be Telegram showing a person setting a bag alight and leaving it outside the building.
Police were called at 10.31pm last night to reports of the arson attack in Hendon, North West London.
The Force said that a man was seen approaching a row of shops with a plastic bag containing what was later found to be three bottles containing fluid.
The Metropolitan Police said: 'He placed the bag next to the building and lit the items in the bag. The bottles failed to fully ignite and the man fled the scene.
'Minor damage was caused to the shopfront and no injuries were reported.
'The investigation into the incident is being led by Counter Terrorism Policing London, supported by officers from the North West Command Area. It is not being treated as a terrorist incident and officers are keeping an open mind about the motive behind the attack.'
No arrests have yet been made.
A video which appeared to be posted to Telegram by an Iran-backed Islamist group showed a person fleeing the scene while the building was on fire
The Jewish business in north west London (pictured) was attacked last night by arsonists. Counter terror police have launched a probe into the arson
The video shared by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia appeared to show a plastic bag containing fluid being set alight
An Islamist group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Iran-backed group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia shared a video on what appears to be Telegram of a person lighting bottles in a plastic bag inside the business and filming the building in flames as they fled the scene.
The group have now claimed responsibility for six attacks since the beginning of April, marking a significant increase.
Commander Helen Flanagan, of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: 'At this stage last night's arson is not being linked to other incidents in the North West London area over the last week or last month's arson in Golders Green but Counter Terrorism officers are leading due to the similarities of each attack.
'I would ask that anyone with information or footage that could help our investigation gets in touch with police as soon as possible.
'We will be relentless in our pursuit of those responsible for this and other, similar, hateful acts against London's communities.'
Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, who leads policing in the area, said: 'Since the incident in Golders Green last month we have spoken extensively to community leaders. I understand and appreciate their concerns, and I know this latest incident will add to fears in the community.
'Local officers are working closely with Counter Terrorism Policing to support the investigation.
'The community can expect to see a heightened police presence in the area. Since last month's attack in Golders Green, we have stepped up police patrols and vigilance to reassure communities and disrupt offenders.
'This includes armed police patrols as well as deployments of officers from Project Servator, who are specially trained to spot anyone who may be planning or preparing to commit criminal acts.'
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting CAD 8987/17APRIL, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Police at the scene examining a bottle at the crime scene
Pictured: a screenshot of the video shared by the Iran-backed group. The Met Police said minor damage was caused to the shopfront and no injuries were reported
The same group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, claimed yesterday that it aimed two drones carrying 'radioactive and dangerous carcinogenic material' towards the nearby Israeli embassy, releasing a video showing two people in hazmat-style suits
Forensic police officers at Kensington Gardens in central London, which was closed on Friday while they investigated
Yesterday, the same 'terror cell' group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, posted a video of what they claimed were drones carrying 'radioactive and cancer-causing materials' towards the Israeli embassy.
The Metropolitan Police blocked off public access to Kensington Gardens while officers wearing protective hazmat suits and gas masks assessed 'a number of discarded items'.
Although security sources are said to consider the video as 'extremely amateurish', authorities are taking their claims seriously and believe they may be a proxy 'commissioned' by pro-Iranian regime groups.
In a video released by HAYI, two people dressed in white hazmat-style suits handled drones adorned with its logo. Footage, which appeared to have been filmed in a local park, then showed a drone taking off into the evening sky.
The Met Police confirmed the embassy was not attacked, but said it was probing the authenticity of the video and whether there is any link between it and the items discarded in the park.
Officers wearing protective suits were pictured in Kensington Gardens just before 9am, while access to the public was blocked off on Friday.
A van belonging to the Metropolitan Police's chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) team, a fire investigation unit from the London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service's hazardous area response team were also present at the scene.
Later, divers from the Metropolitan Police underwater and confined space search team arrived close to the bandstand.
Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia also claimed responsibility for the arson attack on Jewish charity ambulances in Golders Green last month
The incident in north-west London in the early hours of Monday, March 23 saw the vehicles set on fire outside a synagogue in a suspected anti-Semitic hate crime
Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia has claimed responsibility for a series of incidents since the start of the conflict between the US and Israel and Iran, including the arson attack on ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity.
It has also claimed recent attempted arson attacks at a synagogue in Finchley and an Iranian TV station in Wembley which is critical of the regime.
In its latest video, the group said it has 'moved to the second phase of operations'.
Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, (HAYI), which translates to 'Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right', is also known as Ashab al-Yamin.
It is believed to be linked to Iran's proxy groups and has claimed responsibility for incidents across Europe in recent weeks.
Analysts have said it is too early to determine if they are a militia sponsored by Iran or an online-only group.
Most of the participants in the plots appear to be 'criminals for hire' who are recruited on social media platforms such as Telegram and receive money in payment using crypto currency.
Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia was first heard of when it said it was behind an explosion at the front of a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liege on March 9.
Its insignia, bearing a raised arm with a rifle pointing right with a globe slightly faded in the background, is very similar to the IRGC's, Lebanese Hezbollah and Kata'ib Hezbollah in Iraq.
The right hand is typically associated with divine favour, honour and righteousness in Islamic culture.
A group of officers gathered in Kensington Gardens in response to the incident targeting the Israeli Embassy on Friday
Featuring the right hand will lend the group's imagery to a spiritual mission, rather than an ideological pursuit, according to experts.
Further claims followed for attacks on a synagogue in Rotterdam on March 13, a Jewish school on 14 March and a commercial centre on March 16, both in Amsterdam.
The Rotterdam synagogue attack, which occurred at around 3.40am, was first reported at 3.57am, with the video claim released around 4.19am.
In the case of the attack against the Jewish school, the incident reportedly took place around 3.45am, with initial mentions already appearing at 3.44am, followed by the video release roughly two hours later.
They also claimed responsibility for the attack on Jewish ambulances in north London on March 23, for which two men aged 10, and 19, and a 17-year-old youth have been arrested and charged.
Julian Lanches at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism think tank said a video of the London attack circulated on Telegram and X channels affiliated with groups of the so-called 'axis of resistance', especially Iraqi pro-Iranian Shia militias, as well as pro-Iranian news outlets.
'Although these attacks have so far resulted in no casualties and only minor damage, they nonetheless display a clear terrorist intent, as evidenced by the deliberate targeting of Jewish sites and subsequent claims accompanied by further threats,' he said.
Investigators believe Iran has adopted a model pioneered by Russia, an Iranian ally, to deploy 'useful idiots' who are recruited using online criminal networks.
Russia's GRU foreign intelligence agency has used 'grey-zone' proxies, recruited online, to run an arson campaign across Europe following the invasion of Ukraine, including an attack on an Ikea store in Lithuania, a warehouse fire in Poland and incendiary devices in DHL warehouses in Germany and Birmingham.
Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia claimed it had aimed two drones carrying 'radioactive and dangerous carcinogenic material' at the nearby Israeli embassy (pictured)
Last October, six British men were jailed after setting fire to a warehouse on the Cromwell industrial estate in Leyton, East London, causing an estimated £1m in damage and destroying vital Starlink satellite equipment destined for Ukraine.
The ring-leader, Dylan Earl, 21, from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire, had been recruited by an automated Russian chatbot trawling for recruits on the encrypted Telegram app and he had then used the same social media app to recruit the rest of the gang by promising them instant payment in cash or cryptocurrency.
Russia and Iran have been 'strategic allies' since 2019 and in December 2023, Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev was jailed for conducting hostile reconnaissance on a dissident Iranian TV station in West London.
Dovtaev was born in Russia's Chechen Republic and was living in Austria. He arrived at Gatwick on a Whizz Air flight from Vienna and caught a taxi straight to the Chiswick Business Park, then the base for the TV station Iran International.
Security sources believe Dovtaev was being used as a 'cut out' by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who were using a Russian criminal asset to conduct the surveillance.
On Thursday, the Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Matt Jukes, warned anyone considering taking payment or being persuaded to carry out actions on behalf of foreign organisations or states.
He said: 'We know that some individuals are being persuaded or paid to act on behalf of foreign organisations and states.
'If you act out of hatred, racism or antisemitism, we will come after you and you will face the consequences.
'For the people who think you can make quick and easy money by committing crimes for others, we will show that they are fools. We will show that they are wrong and they will face consequences.
'Those who have paid for it will drop them like a stone, and they'll face justice on their own.'
