Last week a list of members of the fascist British National Party was leaked to the Internet, probably leading to this fire bomb attack in West Yorkshire.

Police are investigating a suspected fire bomb near the home of a man whose details were on a list of BNP members published on the internet.

The 26-year-old man left the BNP in 2007 but his personal details were among 12,000 other names on a contact list kept by the far-right party. He is self employed and has a young son. He was not at home when the explosion occurred.

Eyewitnesses described hearing an explosion in the residential street in West Yorkshire, close to the front of the man’s house. A parked car, believed to be a Peugeot belonging to his neighbour, was rapidly consumed by flames.

One possibility being investigated by police is that the explosion was connected to the highly-publicised leak earlier this week of the BNP’s contact list.

Speaking at the scene, David Exley, Kirklees organiser for the BNP, said: “I spoke to the police this morning and they confirmed that a car had been firebombed last night and one of the lines of inquiry is the person who lives next door to [the person] whose car it was is on the list on the internet.

“I can confirm that the gentleman, whose house the car was outside, is not a member of the BNP and is not a current supporter of the BNP. That list covers everybody who has ever contacted our head office for whatever reason.”