ASSAULTS ON MUSLIMS IN BRITAIN SEEN AS REVENGE ATTACKS

LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Tuesday an assault on a young Muslim woman appeared to be a reprisal attack following the destruction of New York's World Trade Center last week.

The woman, aged 19, was walking alone in Swindon, 75 miles west of London, Friday night when she was approached by two white men, one of whom attacked her with a baseball bat, a police spokeswoman said.

She was treated for head and shoulder injuries.

"It appears that it is a race attack after the events of last week and that's how it was viewed by the victim," the spokeswoman said.

"Obviously she is very traumatized by it all. We are seeking witnesses."

Reports of such attacks, including an assault which paralyzed an Afghan taxi driver in London, come as Muslim leaders prepare to meet with police chiefs to discuss the safety of their community.

Schools and mosques have been targets with threats against pupils and graffiti attacks on places of worship, Muslim leaders told Reuters.

The Islamia School in West London, founded by 1970s pop singer Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, reopened on Monday after closing last Thursday following a series of telephoned death threats.

"London can have no truck with any racial attacks against our Muslim population," London Mayor Ken Livingstone said Tuesday.

Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, echoed Livingstone's comments saying any attacks against Muslims were to be deplored.

Police were investigating a suspicious fire outside a mosque in Bolton in northern England Monday night, a police spokeswoman said.

On Monday the New Jamia Mosque on Greengate Street which is now the biggest mosque in Oldham was daubed with racist graffiti and had five windows smashed.

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