Police Officer Stabbed In Mosque Attack

(Yahoo News) – Four men including a police officer have been taken to hospital after being stabbed in a mosque in Birmingham.

The police constable was responding to reports that three men had been stabbed inside the mosque in the Ward End area of the city when he was attacked.

The four are being treated in hospital for their injuries. They are all said to be “stable”.

A 32-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and is currently in custody.

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said: “Police were called at 11pm on Saturday night to a mosque in Washwood Heath Road, Ward End, to reports of three men with stab wounds.

“Officers arrived at the incident and whilst the man was being detained, one police officer suffered a stab wound.

“The three people and the officer have been taken to hospital, all are currently described as stable.”

Officers are investigating whether the attack was a hate crime.

“We don’t know at the moment, it’s very early stages in the inquiry,” the spokeswoman said.

“We can’t rule anything out at the moment.”

Mohammed Shafiq, the leader of national Muslim organisation the Ramadhan Foundation, expressed “deep concern” over the stabbings.

He said: “Our immediate thoughts are with the victims injured and their families.

“It is too early to speculate on the circumstances of the stabbings but we must be clear there should be no place for this sort of violence in our country. There will obviously be people who will try to take advantage of this tragedy but we must not allow them to succeed.”

A number of mosques have been targeted since the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby close to his barracks in Woolwich, south London, last month.

The killing also sparked a large increase in anti-Muslim incidents in the days that followed, according to the organisation Faith Matters, which works to reduce extremism.

In what were believed to be reprisal attacks, the Islamic Somali Community Centre in Muswell Hill, north London, was burnt to the ground while the Grimsby Islamic Cultural Centre was also targeted by arsonists who threw petrol bombs.

Last week, Muslim groups called on authorities to take serious action against the wave of anti-Islamic attacks.

in London, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe responded by saying extra resources would be deployed to sites deemed to be “at greatest risk”.