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The offices of publisher Gibson Square have been involved in a fire-bomb incident that is being linked to the independent publisher's decision to publish the controversial novel The Jewel of Medina. No-one is thought to have been injured in the incident, which led to people being evacuated from nearby houses in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The Times reports that Martin Rynja, publisher and founder of Gibson Square, is now under police guard in a secret location, having been tipped off by police that he was under threat. The office, in London's sedate Lonsdale Square, is also Rynja's home
According to the BBC, three men have been arrested in north London on suspicion of terrorism. It is thought that the men are suspected of attempting to set fire to the publishers in Islington, north London. Armed officers arrested two of the men in the street outside a property in a north London square in the early hours of Saturday. The third was arrested nearby.
The Telegraph reports that police have confirmed that there had been small fire inside the property in Lonsdale Square, which had to be put out. "At this early stage it is being linked with the arrests," the spokesman added.
The Press Association said some residents, whom it did not identify, reported that the incident may have involved a petrol bomb being pushed through the firm's letterbox.
Rynja's next door neighbour Kevin Austin, told the AP he was woken up by police banging on his front door. He said: "All we heard was someone outside shouting get on the ground, get on the ground very, very loud and very forcefully. Then they shouted stop struggling, and we heard a van door closing and several cars speeding off."
The Jewel of Medina is about A'isha, one of the wives of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, which was dropped by Random House US, after it received warnings that it could upset Muslims.