Arrests after fire at publisher of Mohammad book

LONDON (Reuters) - Police said they had arrested three men on suspicion of terrorism on Saturday after a fire at the office of a London firm that is about to publish a controversial novel about the Prophet Mohammad's child bride.

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.

Police said a small fire was put out at a property in the square and the blaze was "being linked to the arrests of the men."

The fire, which caused minor damage, was at a building housing the office of Gibson Square publishers.

"It is believed flammable material was the cause of the fire," a police spokesman said.

Gibson Square said this month it had bought the rights to publish "The Jewel of Medina," by journalist Sherry Jones, after Random House, a unit of Bertelsmann AG, dropped plans to publish the novel fearing it could "incite acts of violence." The book is due to be published in Britain in October.

A green corrugated metal sheet covered the entrance to the building on Saturday. A spokesman for Gibson Square could not immediately be reached for comment.

The arrested men, aged 40, 30 and 22, were being held at a central London police station on suspicion of the "commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," police said, adding that four properties in London had been searched.

"The Jewel of Medina" traces the life of A'isha from her engagement to Mohammad, when she was six, until the prophet's death.