London firefighters battled a blaze Wednesday at Kosher Kingdom, a Jewish supermarket in Golders Green, a neighborhood home to a large Jewish community that has seen a series of arson attacks in recent months.
The London Fire Brigade deployed 15 engines and about 100 firefighters after receiving dozens of calls. The fire impacted a ground-floor shop and a storage area to the rear, producing a column of black smoke visible above the main shopping street.
The cause remains unknown, but police say there are no reports of injuries. The fire follows a spate of arson attacks on synagogues and community sites in the area, including a stabbing in late April that targeted two Jewish men and prompted the U.K. to raise its terrorism threat level to “severe.”
A little-known Iran-linked group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), has claimed responsibility for most of the recent incidents, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. In response, London police created a new community protection team with 100 extra officers.