In one episode, a man took a sledgehammer to smash the windows of a mosque in Birmingham, England, home to one of the largest Muslim populations in Britain.
LONDON — Police officers and counterterrorism officials in Britain were investigating attacks on four mosques overnight Thursday, including one in which a man took a sledgehammer to smash the windows of a house of worship in Birmingham, England.
After the authorities received reports of the sledgehammer attack in north Birmingham, a similar episode was reported a few miles away, according to the West Midlands Police. Officers later discovered damage to two other sites nearby, in an area with a large Muslim community.
“The motive behind the attacks, which are being treated as linked, is yet to be established, but West Midlands Police and the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit are investigating,” the statement said.
Birmingham is one of Britain’s largest cities and home to one of its biggest Muslim communities: More than one in five people there have declared Islam as their religion.
