Huge fire hits London mosque

Firefighters have now revealed the iconic mosque building miraculously surveyed the fire.

The pair – a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy – were today being held for questioning over the blaze at Baitul Futuh mosque yesterday.

London Fire Brigade sent ten engines to the scene around midday on Saturday and managed to get the fire under control.

One man was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation. It is not believed anyone else was injured.

An administration building was badly damaged but not the mosque, London Fire Brigade said.

Philip Morton, fire station manager, who was at the scene, said that this was a large fire and his crews were working hard to minimize the spread of fire to other parts of the complex.

Road have been closed from Crown Road down to the mosque, which is near Morden South railway station.

The Baitul Futuh mosque was built in 2003 for the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, with the five plus acre complex having room for 10,500 people to pray.

The cause of fire is not clear yet.

Merton council leader Stephen Alambritis described the mosque as as “beautiful” and a “major landmark”.

“There were no people at prayer at the time”.

Siobhain McDonagh, the MP for Mitcham and Morden, spoke of her shock. “This will be a blow to their operation but they will be back”, he added.

“Their motto is ‘Love for all, hatred for none” and they really live that.

The fire was initially said to have hit most of the huge mosque but mosque-goers have said the hall where worshippers gather was evacated quickly after the fire started there.

The Ahmadiyya community launched a multi-million-pound campaign in February 1995 which funded the building of the mosque.