Police have named the attacker believed to be behind today’s terror attack at a synagogue as 35-year-old Jihad al Shamie. Police say three people are also in custody, while Sir Keir Starmer has promised to do all he can to protect Jewish communities. Follow the latest below.
Thursday 2 October 2025 21:36, UK
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By Jason Farrell, Home editor
As news emerged of a targeted attack on a synagogue in Manchester, it seemed only a matter of time before it was declared a terrorist attack.
Confirmation came on the steps of Scotland Yard as assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor, national head of counter-terror policing, assured communities that “UK policing is mobilising – and mobilising fast”.
Police said there is no reason to suspect an increased threat to synagogues, but policing visibility would be stepped up.
London’s mayor Sadiq Khan said: “I want to reassure them that London will be seeing additional police officers.People should be allowed to go about and practice their faith knowing that they’re going to be safe.
“Unfortunately, too many Jewish Londoners, Jewish people across the country, Jewish people across the globe, don’t feel that way. And that’s heartbreaking.”
The Community Security Trust (CST) which monitors antisemitism found that after the 7 October attack in Israel, anti-Jewish incidents doubled in the first half of 2024.
Home Office figures support this, showing a third of recorded religious hate crimes are committed against Jewish people.
The Jewish Community had feared this day could come and had already put measures in place to protect themselves.
Israel’s foreign minister spoke a short while ago with the head of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, the country’s foreign ministry said.
It says Gideon Sa’ar asked Mark Adlestone “to convey solidarity and strengthen the families of the murdered and wounded, and the entire Manchester community at this difficult time”.
“The head of the Jewish community described the deep distress within the community following this morning’s murderous attack, as well as the broad support he has been receiving from many in the UK.”
The statement says both Sa’ar and Adlestone “agreed in their conversation that a determined fight against antisemitism is required”.
Earlier, Sa’ar said UK authorities had “failed to take the necessary action” to curb the “toxic wave of antisemitism” in the country (see 17.11 post).
Counter Terrorism Police have just confirmed the name of the suspect in this morning’s attack as 35-year-old Jihad al Shamie.
They say he is a British citizen of Syrian descent and that his name did not appear in any records of Prevent – the UK government’s counter-terrorism programme.
Police added that three people – two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s – have been arrested in connection to the attack. 
They are being held on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism. 
Police added that two men were pronounced dead at the scene and that three other men remain in hospital with serious injuries.
They said one of those men sustained a stab wound and a second was struck by the car involved in the attack. The third man later presented himself at hospital with an injury that may have been sustained as officers stopped the attacker.
Police said they are working to formally identity those killed and to understand the motivation behind the attack.
Two of the largest Jewish community organisations in the UK have released a joint statement in response to this morning’s attack.
The Board of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council said they are “devastated” at the loss of two members of their community this morning in Manchester.
“Our communal organisations are working in close coordination with one another and with all relevant authorities including government and police.”
The statement adds: “At a time of rising antisemitism in the UK, this attack was sadly something we feared was coming.
“We call on all those in positions of power and influence to take the required action to combat hatred against Jewish people, and will be working with the authorities on a series of additional measures to protect our community over the coming days.”
David Cameron says he stands with the Jewish community “as I always have done” after this morning’s attack.
The former British PM said: “We are a proud multicultural, multi-faith country. No heinous act of terrorism will ever diminish that and the scourge of antisemitism must never prevail.”
The name of the suspect in today’s attack has not appeared in initial searches of police and security service counter-terrorism records, and he is not thought to have been under current investigation, the Press Association reports.
It adds that further checks are being carried out to see if any of his details appear anywhere in records of other investigations.
Earlier, Greater Manchester Police said the identity of the attacker is known but was unable to be confirmed due to “safety reasons at the scene”.
This morning’s attack happened in a multicultural part of Manchester – and one of the most religiously diverse in the country.
We spoke to the chief executive of the British Muslim Trust, Akeela Ahmed, who told us her community stands with their Jewish neighbours today.
“I can only emphasise just how scared people must be feeling right now, and how terrified… and for it to happen on the holiest of days as well, Yom Kippur, it’s despicable,” she tells our lead UK news presenter Sarah-Jane Mee.
Watch her remarks in the video below…
Gideon Falter, the chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, says this morning’s attack was made “inevitable” by the “radicalisation and Islamist extremism” that he says has been allowed to spread by successive governments.
He said: “It has been a long time since British Jews had faith in our politicians, police and institutions. Their appeasement of extremists – especially those of the far-left and radical Islamists – is what has made today’s attack inevitable.”
He said the “blood of British Jews is on the hands of virtue-signalling politicians” and called for “firm and urgent action” from the government and not “empty declarations that antisemitism has no place in Britain”.
Our Data & Forensics team has put this 3D map together, showing how the suspected attacker arrived at the synagogue and where…
Protesters demonstrating against Israel’s actions in Gaza and the recent interception of a flotilla hoping to provide aid to the enclave are taking place in London this evening.
Images show hundreds of people holding signs and marching in central London, with police clashing with a group along Whitehall.
“They had moved away from the gates of Parliament Square, but it sounds like they might now be coming back,” chief political correspondent Jon Craig says.
Similar protests have been happening today in Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, Naples and Rome.
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