Fires damage cars, houses

The police are not excluding the possibility that arson was the cause of separate fires that badly damaged two vehicles and two house façades, a residence door and a garage early yesterday morning.

The first incident took place at about 12.30 a.m. The police were informed that a door of a residence and a garage door in Triq Ta' Brija, Siggiewi, were on fire.

The fire was controlled by family members before any assistance was provided. Nobody was injured.

The police said a tin can and a bucket were found on site, raising suspicions that the fire could have been sparked intentionally.

Just hours later, at about 4 a.m., the police rushed to the scene of a car fire in Triq l-Isqof Scicluna, Qormi.

Fire fighters was called out but the car, an Isuzu Gemini, was already extensively damaged. As a result of the blaze, a car parked nearby and the façades of two houses were also damaged. Duty Magistrate Joe Cassar appointed several experts to help him in inquiries in the two incidents. The police are investigating.

Last Tuesday, a car belonging to Katrine Camilleri, a lawyer engaged by the Jesuit Refugee Service, was destroyed in the second arson attack on the religious community in the space of a month. The police could not say whether either of yesterday's incidents were connected.