Two British men detained in a suspected antisemitic hate crime are released on bail

View at burnt ambulances in a car park at Golders Green in London, Monday, March 23, 2026 after an apparent arson attack on four vehicles belonging to a Jewish ambulance service, Hatzola Northwest.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

LONDON — British police said Thursday that two men arrested in connection with an arson attack that destroyed four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity have been released on bail as they continue to investigate the suspected antisemitic hate crime.

The two British nationals, aged 45 and 47, were detained Wednesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, London’s Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement. The men were released under strict bail conditions and will be closely monitored, police said.

Authorities on Wednesday described the arrests as an important breakthrough in the case, but noted that three people were visible in the closed-circuit camera footage of the attack.

“We continue to work to try and identify all of those involved in this appalling attack and the investigation team is working around the clock to do this,’’ said Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London.

Police are investigating a claim of responsibility by a group with potential links to Iran but have not declared the matter to be a terror attack.

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

The Associated Press