Overview

• Emergency crews responded shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday after a fire damaged the mosque’s front entrance and a car on Phyllis Avenue in Peacehaven, with no injuries reported.
• Doorbell and CCTV video reported by multiple outlets shows two masked individuals pouring an accelerant at the entrance before flames erupted, and the suspects fled before officers arrived.
• Two people inside at the time — the mosque chairman and another worshipper, both in their 60s — escaped safely as the entrance caught fire.
• Sussex Police launched Operation Spey, describing a fast-moving investigation with forensic work under way and an appeal for CCTV, doorbell, dashcam and mobile phone footage.
• Patrols have been stepped up around the site and other places of worship, local leaders condemned the attack, and coverage places the incident in the context of recent religiously motivated violence, including the deadly Manchester synagogue attack.