The British police say a suspicious device found outside a mosque in Walsall, central England, was a bomb and that the incident is being treated as an anti-Muslim hate crime.\n<\/p>\n
The police attended the scene of the incident after locals reported hearing a loud noise like an explosion late on Saturday and found the remnants of the device.\n<\/p>\n
The West Midlands Police had to evacuate 150 nearby homes as bomb disposal experts examined a suspicious item found outside the mosque and later said the noise \u00c5\u201cappeared to be consistent\u201d with the object going off.\n<\/p>\n
“The force is taking this attack against the mosque very seriously and we have a major investigation under way,” said Assistant Chief Constable Sharon Rowe.\n<\/p>\n
She added that they have also called in the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit to investigate the case.\n<\/p>\n
“At this stage we are keeping an open mind on a motive, but have recorded it as a hate crime,” Rowe said.\n<\/p>\n
The blast left nobody hurt while the property damage is reported to be minimal.\n<\/p>\n
The attack comes as London police said earlier this month that Islamophobic incidents have surged eight-fold since the murder of a British soldier in south east London back in May.\n<\/p>\n
AMR\/HE<\/p>\n