TWO black churches in northeast Mississippi were destroyed by fire late on Monday, police said, adding to a wave of suspicious church blazes that has swept the southeast US.
Federal and state arson investigators combed through the ruins late into the night to determine if the incidents were linked to fires at 34 other black churches in the South over the past 18 months.
Police quickly called on the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Mississippi State Fire Marshal's Office to help determine the cause of the fires.
In Washington, the White House spokesman, Mr Mike McCurry, said President Clinton was concerned about the latest incidents. "Our understanding at the White House is that the FBI and the ATF and the US Marshal's Service are all three responding already and on the scene," Mr McCurry said.
Mr Clinton, he added, "continues to believe that every person of g will needs to unite in condemning these burnings and joining in efforts to dissuade those who would believe that this is acceptable behaviour."
The two churches were located a few miles from each other, just south of the Tennessee border near the town of Kossuth.