A car was rammed into pedestrians and at least one person was stabbed as worshippers arrived to celebrate Yom Kippur.
By Elizabeth Melimopoulos and Sarah Shamim
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Police on Thursday shot dead a man who they said was responsible for deadly car ramming and stabbing attacks in which two victims from the Jewish community were killed close to a synagogue in Manchester, in northwest England.
Three more victims of the attack are in a serious condition.
The attacker drove a car into pedestrians before engaging in a six-minute stabbing spree, according to British police. Later on Thursday, counterterrorism police declared it a “terrorism incident” and identified the attacker.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said police had been deployed to synagogues across the country in response to the attack, which took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
“Earlier today, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jewish community, a vile individual committed a terrorist attack that attacked Jews because they are Jews, and attacked Britain because of our values,” Starmer said.
Witnesses told police they saw a car being rammed into people walking on the street close to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, an outer suburb of Manchester. They also reported a man being stabbed.
Paramedics arrived at the scene at 9:41am (08:41 GMT) and were tending to members of the public.
The National Health Service (NHS) North West Ambulance Service said in a statement that its crews had treated patients at the scene, and critically injured people had been transported to hospital.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officers were called to the scene at 9:31am (08:31 GMT) after a member of the public reported “a car being driven towards members of the public, and one man had been stabbed” outside Heaton Park Shul, a synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, where people had gathered to observe Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish faith.
By 9:37am, GMP had declared a major incident and designated Operation Plato, the code given for a “marauding terrorist attack”. A minute later, at 9:38am, shots were fired by GMP firearms officers at a man believed to be the attacker.
Paramedics arrived at 9:41am (08:41 GMT) and treated four people for stab wounds and impact injuries from the suspect’s vehicle, while critically injured victims were transported to hospital. A bomb disposal team arrived later.
At 11:15am (10:15 GMT), authorities announced that two of the injured people had died, as had the suspect.
At 3pm (14:00 GMT), Laurence Taylor, the head of counterterrorism policing in the United Kingdom, declared the attack a terrorist incident and said two arrests had been made in relation to it.
The attack took place at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, which is located in the north Manchester district of Crumpsall.
Crumpsall is an outer suburb, home to about 18,000 people, according to Manchester City Council. Trams and bus services feed from the suburb to the city centre, 5km (three miles) away.
There has been a Jewish congregation in Crumpsall since 1935. The large Ashkenazi Orthodox synagogue was completed in 1967.
According to the police, two people died in the attack, while three others have been seriously injured. Their identities have not been revealed.
GMP said the man believed to have carried out the attack is 35-year-old Jihad al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian heritage, though they noted that “formal identification is yet to take place”.
Investigators are still “working to understand the motivation behind the attack”, police added.
GMP chief Sir Stephen Watson said the suspect was wearing “a vest that looked like an explosive device”, but police later confirmed it was examined and found not to be viable.
Three other people have also been arrested: two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s. They are being held on suspicion of “commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism”, and remain in custody.
Starmer left a meeting with European leaders in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, early to deal with the incident.
“I’m already able to say that additional police assets are being deployed to synagogues across the country, and we will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe,” Starmer said.
In an X post, Starmer also wrote: “The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.”
Hamish Falconer, a member of the British parliament from Starmer’s Labour Party, wrote in an X post: “I’m horrified to hear of this incident at a synagogue I’ve been proud to visit. My thoughts are with everyone affected.”
On Thursday afternoon, Starmer held an emergency meeting at his office in Downing Street, London, to discuss the attack. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley were also seen arriving to attend the meeting.
The attack took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest and most solemn day in the Jewish calendar, devoted to atonement and reflection. On this day, Jews around the world fast and spend long hours in prayer. Even people who rarely go to synagogue usually attend on this day.
At Heaton Park Synagogue, worshippers were due to gather at 9am for Shacharis, the morning prayer service, followed by a special children’s service later in the day. Synagogues traditionally hold multiple services throughout Yom Kippur.
Manchester itself is home to about 30,000 Jews, the community’s largest congregation in the UK outside London.
Many in the neighbourhood near the synagogue were in a state of disbelief on Thursday evening, struggling to process the attack.
“There’s everyone here,” 41-year-old Sam Martin told Al Jazeera. “Muslims, Jews, everyone. I’ve known nothing but love and kindness from our Jewish community. I’m just shocked this could happen.”
The police said they “declared PLATO” following the attack. This is a codeword used by the British police to refer to an incident that is being investigated as a “marauding terrorist attack” (MTA), one in which attackers rapidly move through a location, aiming to kill or injure as many people as possible. This does not mean the incident has been declared a terrorist attack.
The police have opened a public portal, a Casualty Bureau, for people to inquire about their family and friends who may have been at the scene. The portal also asks individuals who were involved in the incident and are now safe to submit a report online.
Yes. Instances of anti-Semitism have been on the rise in the UK recently.
Community Security Trust (CST), a UK-based charity for the welfare of British Jews, reported 3,528 instances of anti-Semitism in 2024, the second highest recorded by CST in a single calendar year. Nineteen of the instances recorded in 2024 involved damage to synagogues.
The highest was in 2023, when 4,296 instances were recorded.
Since the onset of Israel’s war on Gaza, which began following a Hamas-led attack on army outposts and villages in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, an uptick in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents has been reported globally.
Additional reporting by Simon Speakman Cordall in Manchester, UK.
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