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PA Media
The burnt out remains of Hatzola ambulances at the Jewish Community Ambulance service in Golders Green
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life after four Jewish charity-owned ambulances were set on fire in north London.
Four Hatzola ambulances were set ablaze in Golders Green in the early hours of Monday, in an incident being treated as an antisemitic hate crime.
One man, 47, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in north-west London on Wednesday morning and another man, aged 45, was arrested in central London.
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of counter terrorism policing London, described the arrests as an "important breakthrough" but said the force was aware of CCTV footage which "suggests there were at least three people involved".
"We fully recognise the local community will still be concerned and our investigation very much remains active and we will continue to work to identify and seek to arrest all of those who may have been involved," she added.
The Met previously said the investigation was looking at an Islamist group with potential links to Iran.
Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya - The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand - made an unsubstantiated claim of responsibility for the attack.
The group has claimed responsibility for a number of similar arson incidents across Europe.
Although the case is not being classed as a terror incident, the Met said the investigation is currently being led by counter-terror officers.
Hatzola is a Jewish-led non-profit that provides free emergency medical response and hospital transportation to the north London community regardless of faith.
The Community Security Trust, a charity that tracks antisemitism in the UK and provides security to British Jews, welcomed the arrests and said: "We are grateful to the officers who have worked tirelessly to find those accountable.
"While this development is an important step forward, we know the community will understandably remain concerned."
It added that its security operations would remain at a "high level".
PA Media
Firefighters arrived at the scene of the blaze in the early hours of Monday morning
Det Ch Supt Luke Williams outlined additional security measures which have been put in place in the area, which include police officers being deployed to protect certain locations, alongside "additional highly visible armed police patrols".
He added that these measures are precautionary and not in response to any specific threat.
Officers are carrying out searches at the two London addresses where the men were arrested.
No injuries were reported in the attack but several explosions - linked to gas canisters on board the ambulances - caused the windows of nearby buildings to shatter and led to the evacuation of some residents.
Locals described the noise waking them up in the middle of the night and feeling increasingly fearful in the wake of the attack.
Three of Hatzola's five ambulances were completely destroyed and another was damaged in the attack.
Four replacement ambulances, provided by the government, arrived at Hatzola on Tuesday.
More than £1.3m has been raised across multiple GoFundMe pages to help the service.
Hatzola chairman Shloimie Richman said money which had been donated to the service since the arson attack would be put towards a new, secure headquarters.
