MANCHESTER, England: An assailant drove a car into people outside a synagogue Thursday in northern England and stabbed two of them to death in what police called a terrorist attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year.
Officers shot and killed the suspect at the synagogue in Manchester, police said, though authorities took some time to confirm he was dead because he was wearing a vest that made it appear as if he had explosives. Police later said he did not have a bomb.
The Metropolitan Police force in London, which leads the nation’s counter-terrorism policing operations, declared the rampage a terrorist attack. The assault took place as people gathered at an Orthodox synagogue in an outer neighborhood of Manchester on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar.
Authorities said the man believed responsible was a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent named Jihad Al-Shamie, who entered the UK as a young child and became a citizen in 2006. An initial check of records showed he was not part of a UK counter-terror program that tries to identify people at risk for being radicalized.
Police also said three people were arrested on suspicion of acts of terrorism. They are two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s.
Police said the two people killed were Jewish. Authorities were working to formally identify them and determine the motive for the attack.
At least three people were hospitalized in serious condition, officials said. One person sustained a stab wound while a second was struck by the car involved in the attack. A third person arrived at a hospital with an injury that may have been sustained as officers stopped the attacker. A fourth injured person was taken to the hospital, but their injuries and condition were not available.
Denouncements of the attack and concern for Jewish communities
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the “vile” assailant who “attacked Jews because they are Jews.” He promised the Jewish community that he would do “everything in my power to guarantee you the security that you deserve, starting with a more visible police presence.”
“I promise you that over the coming days, you will see the other Britain, the Britain of compassion, of decency, of love,” Starmer said. “I promise you that this Britain will come together to wrap our arms around your community and show you that Britain is a place where you and your family are safe, secure and belong.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel grieved with the Jewish community in the UK
“Our hearts are with the families of the murdered, and we pray for the swift recovery of the wounded,” he said. “As I warned at the UN: Weakness in the face of terrorism only brings more terrorism. Only strength and unity can defeat it.”
Antisemitic incidents in the UK have hit record levels following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza, according to Community Security Trust, an advocacy group for British Jews that works to eliminate antisemitism.
More than 1,500 incidents were reported in the first half of the year, the second-highest six-month total reported since the record set over the same period a year earlier.
“This is every rabbi’s or every Jewish person’s worst nightmare,” said Rabbi Jonathan Romain, of Maidenhead Synagogue and head of the Rabbinic Court of Great Britain. “Not only is this a sacred day, the most sacred in the Jewish calendar, but it’s also a time of mass gathering.”
Witnesses describe a car driving toward the synagogue and then a stabbing attack
Greater Manchester Police said they were called to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue around 9:30 a.m., shortly after services had begun.
Chief Constable Stephen Watson said the man drove directly at pedestrians outside the synagogue and then attacked them with a knife.
Chava Lewin, who lives next to the synagogue, said she heard a bang and thought it might be a firework until her husband ran inside their house and said there had been a “terrorist attack.”
A witness told her that she saw a car driving erratically crash into the gates of the house of worship.
“She thought maybe he had a heart attack,” Lewin said. “The second he got out of the car, he started stabbing anyone near him. He went for the security guard and tried to break into the synagogue.”
Minutes later, police fired shots at the assailant.
Video on social media showed police with guns pointed at a person lying on the ground beneath a blue Star of David on the brick wall of the synagogue.
A bystander could be heard on the video saying the man had a bomb and was trying to detonate it. When the man tried to stand up, a gunshot rang out and he fell to the ground.
On the sidewalk outside the synagogue gate nearby, the body of another person lay in a pool of blood.
Watson credited security guards and congregants for their bravery in preventing the assailant from getting inside the prayer service.
Police later detonated an explosive to get into the man’s car.
Manchester was the site of Britain’s deadliest attack in recent years, the 2017 suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert that killed 22 people.
Authorities declare an emergency
Immediately after the attack, police declared “Plato,” the national code word used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack.”
Starmer, who flew back to London early from a summit of European leaders in Copenhagen, Denmark, to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee, said additional police officers would be deployed at synagogues across the UK
King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla were “deeply shocked and saddened″ to learn of the attack “on such a significant day for the Jewish community.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this appalling incident, and we greatly appreciate the swift actions of the emergency services,’′ he said on his social media feed.