Birmingham, Ala. ? A weekend fire at a Baptist church was ruled arson Sunday, the 10th in a recent string of blazes set at churches in rural Alabama, authorities said.

The Saturday afternoon blaze severely damaged the Beaverton Freewill Baptist Church in northwest Alabama, near the Mississippi line.

“It’s definitely arson,” said Ragan Ingram, a spokesman for the state fire marshal’s office, which was investigating whether the fire was connected to the other blazes that have destroyed or damaged nine churches since Feb. 2.

Saturday’s fire was the only one that wasn’t set in the pre-dawn hours.

Investigators have said they don’t know a motive, but there is no racial pattern. Five of the churches had white congregations and five black. All were Baptist, the dominant faith in the region, and most were located in isolated country settings.

Last week, Gov. Bob Riley said the nine earlier church fires appear linked, as investigators checked out witness reports of two men in a sport utility vehicle near a number of the fires.

Pastor Dwight Bailey surveys the damaged left by a fire at the Beaverton Freewill Baptist Church in Beaverton, Ala., Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006. Investigators have determined that the fire that occured Saturday evening was arson.

On Sunday, a federal investigator said authorities believe – based on witness reports and behavioral profilers – two white men were responsible for the fires.

“They’re not youths or teens. It’s probably someone in their 20s or 30s. We believe they’re pretty much inseparable. They’re something like bosom buddies,” said Eric Kehn, a spokesman for the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency.

Evidence from one of the earlier fires indicates the perpetrators may have been briefly trapped inside the building and may have been hurt, said Jim Cavanaugh, ATF regional director.