JNN 13 July 2013 An explosion near a mosque in central England is being treated as suspected terrorism, British police said Friday. No injuries were reported

British police are saying they are treating the nail bomb blast in a Muslim dominated Birmingham suburb as a “terrorist incident.”

Residents in the town of Tipton reported hearing a loud bang and finding nails near the Kanz-ul-Iman Muslim Welfare Association Central Jamia mosque, in the car park of the mosque ,  according to West Midlands Police.

West midlands police say they were called out after residents heard a loud bang in the Tipton area of the city shortly after 1:00pm local time (12:00 GMT).

The blast appeared to have happened shortly before Friday prayers were expected to begin. The area around the mosque was evacuated as a precaution.There were no reported injuries .

“An investigation is being led by the West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit and it is being treated as a terrorist incident,” police said in a statement as cited by Reuters. “Some residents have reported finding debris in the area and finding nails. This is being investigated by forensic officers at the scene.”

The incident happened on the same day as the funeral of former army drummer Lee Rigby, who was brutally murdered by Muslim extremists in Woolwich in May. Both suspects face a murder trial in November, but talked freely with people at the scene of the murder before armed police arrived.

Since Rigby’s killing, the English Defense League (EDL), a right wing group opposed to the increasing Islamification of Britain, have staged a number of protests – many of which include EDL members shouting slogans like “Muslim killers off our streets.”

That attack in May triggered a spike in religious tensions, and police have reported an increase in attacks against mosques and Muslim community centres in the subsequent weeks.

Soon after the Woolwich murder, a Muslim community center in London was burned down and the letters EDL were scrawled on the wall. Police have yet to discover who was responsible.

In the wake of the tragedy, officers say there has been an increase of attacks on Muslims nationwide.

In June, a small home-made bomb was left outside a mosque in Walsall, a few miles north-east of Tipton, in an incident the police are treating as a hate crime.

The device, described as no bigger than a mobile phone, was left outside the Aisha mosque in Rutter Street, Caldmore.

The incidents follow a series of attacks on mosques around the UK in the wake of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death in the street outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, south-east London, in May.

Last month, a number of men from Birmingham – home to a large Muslim population – were jailed for plotting to attack an EDL rally with a nail bomb.

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