London Property Firebombed over Muhammad Novel...

The arrests are thought to be linked to a fire at a property in Islington, north London, which is used as the home and office of publisher Martin Rynja.

His company, Gibson Square, recently agreed to publish a controversial novel about Muhammad and his child bride, entitled The Jewel of the Medina. The blaze, which led to people being evacuated from the house, may have been started by a petrol bomb pushed through the letter box.

Initially, three men, aged 22, 30 and 40, were detained at around 2.25 am this morning in the Islington area of north London after a fire at a property in Lonsdale Square.
Two were stopped by armed officers in Lonsdale Square, and the third was seized following an armed vehicle stop near Angel underground station.

Police are searching four addresses around north-east London - two in Walthamstow, one in Ilford and one in Forest Gate.
The men, who were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, are being questioned at a central London police station.
Later a fourth person, a woman, was arrested at a property in Ilford for allegedly obstructing the police, a spokesman for Scotland Yard said.

The police confirmed that there has been small fire inside the property in Lonsdale Square, which had to be put out. "At this early stage it is being linked with the arrests," the spokesman added.

Yard officials have refused to identify those arrested or give any information on the nature of the terrorist plot they are alleged to have been planning.
Residents in Lonsdale Square said armed police, assisted by fire-fighters, broke down the door of number 47 at around 2.30 this morning.
Francesca Liebowitz, 16, who lives five doors away with her parents, said: "The police couldn't get the door open so the fire brigade battered it down.

"There was smoke coming from around the door, but I don't know whether that was because of the door being broken down. They evacuated people from the house. It's a bit scary to have this happen on your doorstep, nothing like this has ever happened round here before."

A neighbour and friend of Mr Rynja said the company normally published books on current affairs, and said the publisher had never expressed concerns that his work might endanger his safety. A green hoarding covered the doorway to the four-storey town house this afternoon.

He added: "If a novel of quality and skill that casts light on a beautiful subject we know too little of in the West, but have a genuine interest in, cannot be published here, it would truly mean that the clock has been turned back to the dark ages."

Its publication in the US was cancelled in August by publisher Random House, fearing it could offend Muslims.

An academic who said a controversial novel about the Prophet Mohammed amounted to "softcore pornography" is facing calls to apologise after the home of the book's publisher was firebombed.