Fire at Washington state Planned Parenthood ruled arson

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[September 05, 2015]  (Reuters) - A fire that badly damaged a Planned Parenthood building in Washington state early on Friday was caused by arson, local officials said.

The blaze was set around 3:30 a.m. local time and caused extensive damage to the front of the structure in Pullman, the Pullman Fire Department said in a news release. No one was injured in the fire.

Last month, thousands of protesters rallied outside Planned Parenthood locations across the country calling for the federal government to end funding for the health organization.

Demonstrators were mobilized to dozens of locations, including Pullman, after an anti-abortion group released videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating prices for aborted fetal tissue.

Fire officials in Pullman, a city of about 30,000 people close to Washington's border with Idaho, have not speculated on a motive for the arson and said the investigation was ongoing.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Ryan Woo)

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