A masked man has opened fire at an East London Mosque where Muslims were gathered for Ramadan prayers.

Shots were heard by Muslims while they were at the Seven Kings Mosque in Ilford for evening prayer late on Thursday. This was after a masked man gained entry into the mosque on High Road. He started firing after he was made to leave.

According to Scotland Yard, early investigations suggested that a “blank firing handgun” had been discharged. The incident isn’t going to be treated as terrorism-related as no injuries or damage to the building were reported.

Describing the shooting, Ibraheem Hussain, 19, who was at the mosque at the time said: “There’s three sections of the mosque and at taraweeh (evening prayers) during this time of Ramadan the mosque is packed out. We were upstairs in the classrooms and about 30 minutes into the night prayer a large noise went off.

“I just continued my prayer, it sounded like a firework or maybe something heavy had been dropped, so no-one really thought anything of it. After we finished we were leaving the shoe area and someone said it was a gunshot, someone had come into the mosque and he had a firearm on him. The managers had seen him, he was masked and acting suspicious and the firearm was let off.”

The mosque’s imam, Mufti Suhail, urged people not to speculate over the gunman’s motives.

He said: “There was a firearm incident outside Seven Kings Mosque tonight during Ramadan night prayers. The suspect ran from the scene when stopped by brothers standing guard at the mosque. A shot was fired which fortunately did not hit anyone.”

Ilford North MP Wes Streeting said he would be contacting the police about the incident that happened.

“I am aware of the reports of a man with a firearm at Seven Kings Mosque during prayers tonight and am relieved that no one appears to have been hurt or injured. Thank you to @MPSRedbridge for a swift response,” he tweeted.

PM NEWS