Gun fired outside UK mosque during prayers

Armed police were scrambled to an east London mosque after a "masked" gunman entered the building during Ramzan prayers before shooting a firearm outside.

Worshippers at the Seven Kings Mosque in Ilford were part-way through evening prayers late on Thursday when the sound of a gunshot rang out, the Evening Standard newspaper reported.

Scotland Yard said that early investigations suggested that a "blank firing handgun" had been discharged. No injuries or damage to the building were reported. They were not treating the incident as "terrorism-related".

The man, said to have had his face covered, was reported to have entered the mosque but was chased out by people inside before he fired the gun at 10.45 p.m. (local time). No arrests were made.

In a statement shared by a Muslim Council spokesman on Twitter, the mosque's imam Mufti Suhail said the suspect's motives had not been established.

He asked that people "avoid speculating and circulating unconfirmed information".

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was "relieved nobody was injured in the incident".

--IANS

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