GLENCOE, Ala. Feb 20, 2006 (AP)— A suspicious fire did minor damage to the exterior of a small church, but authorities said Monday it does not appear to be linked to a string of suspected arsons that have damaged or destroyed 10 rural churches in Alabama.

The regional director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Jim Cavanaugh, said investigators believe the fire at the small church in Glencoe was started by someone from the area.

Johnny Chambers, acting chief of the Glencoe Police Department, said members of the joint federal-state task force investigating the cases were asked to review the blaze that occurred early Sunday at Chapman's Chapel.

The church is small and isolated, like the other ones that burned. "You can't see it from the road," said Chambers.

But the church is located in northeast Alabama, about 75 miles from the nearest of the previous fires, and the fire began outside the building. The earlier blazes were started inside buildings, mostly near the pulpit.

Cavanaugh said the Glencoe fire appeared to have started by someone throwing a Molotov cocktail against the building.

Ragan Ingram, a spokesman with the state fire marshal's office, said Chapman's Chapel, which has less than 20 members, had "very minor damage" to the outside of the building. Flames melted a small section of vinyl siding and darkened a larger area.

No arrests have been made in the 10 suspected arsons, although a man described by authorities as being mentally troubled was charged last week in a copycat fire that was set at an abandoned church in east Alabama.

The task force also is still investigating a pair of fires in Tuscaloosa, where a building that houses a Christian-themed apparel business was destroyed Friday night. A small fire damaged a Methodist campus ministry at the University of Alabama the same day.

Cavanaugh said the cause of the fire at the campus ministry appears to have been accidental, possibly started by a candle. He said the investigation of the other Tuscaloosa fire was just beginning.

March 8, 2006 — Two college students suspected of setting a series of church fires in the South last month have been arrested and are being held on arson charges, while a third student suspected of involvement is still being sought.

Benjamin Nathan Moseley and Russell Lee Debusk Jr., students at Birmingham-Southern College, appeared in federal court in Birmingham, Ala., today. They have a second hearing scheduled for Friday.

The nine Baptist churches are mostly in isolated locations. Five in Bibb County, south of Birmingham, burned early Feb. 3, while four in the western part of the state burned early Feb. 7. A 10th arson at a Baptist church on Feb. 11 is not believed to be connected to the others, officials said.

Authorities are also looking for Matthew Lee Cloyd, a student at another school in Birmingham.

According to an affidavit from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Moseley told agents that he had gone to Bibb County with Cloyd and Debusk in Cloyd's Toyota sport utility vehicle on Feb. 2 and set fire to five churches.

Cloyd allegedly said Moseley set the fires "as a joke, and it got out of hand," according to a witness quoted in the affidavit.

The four fires in the western Alabama churches were set "as a diversion to throw investigators off," Moseley allegedly said, admitting that the attempt "obviously did not work," according to the affidavit.

The Rev. Jim Parker, who heads the Ashby Baptist Church in Brierfield, which was burned to the ground, said he was glad that arrests had been made.

"They seem to think these are the right people, so we're very relieved," Parker said. "We're very relieved by it all, and I think we can move forward now."