PARIS - A pre-dawn fire Saturday that destroyed part of a suburban Jewish school was likely an anti-Semitic act, France's interior minister said.

No injuries were reported in the blaze at the Merkaz Hatorah private school, located in suburban Gagny in the Seine-Saint-Denis region.

About 100 firefighters were called in to put out the flames, which destroyed some 3,000 square meters (32,290 square feet) on the school's second floor where work was underway, officials at the local prefecture said. The area was not being used by students.

The fire started in two separate places, local
officials said.

"The criminal origin of the blaze is more than strongly suspected which gives, for this Jewish school, an anti-Semitic and obviously racist connotation," said Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy during a visit to the fire site...