By Phil Noble
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -Two people were killed after an assailant drove a car into pedestrians and stabbed a security guard near a synagogue in England on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, British police said.
Greater Manchester Police said officers had shot the suspect after being called to the scene at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the Crumpsall district of the city in northern England.
Police acted after a witness said a car had rammed members of the public and that one man had been stabbed. The suspect was believed to be dead but officers could not confirm this “due to safety issues surrounding suspicious items on his person”, with a bomb disposal unit called to the scene.
SECURITY GUARD ATTACKED
As well as the two people who have been confirmed dead, three others were in a serious condition.
After the attack, police were seen ushering a large group of mostly Jewish elderly men – some in tears, many looking shocked – away from the synagogue. Some were wearing white robes, others were in suits and wearing a skullcap.
“I’m appalled by the attack at a synagogue in Crumpsall,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said as he rushed away early from a European political gathering in Copenhagen to return to Britain to chair an emergency meeting.
“The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific,” Starmer said.
A video shared on social media and verified by Reuters showed police shooting a man inside the synagogue’s perimeter, while another man lay on the floor in a pool of blood, appearing to wear a traditional Jewish head covering.
“We are grateful to the member of the public whose quick response to what they witnessed allowed our swift action, and as a result the offender was prevented from entering the synagogue,” a police spokesperson said.
“We know today’s horrifying attack, on the Jewish community’s holiest day, will have caused significant shock and fear throughout all of our communities.”
Britain’s King Charles said he was “deeply shocked and saddened” to learn of the attack, “especially on such a significant day for the Jewish community”.
HEAVY POLICE PRESENCE
A Reuters photographer reported a heavy police presence in the area. Ambulance crews were also seen in protective body armour and helmets.
Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said it was a serious incident but told BBC radio that “the immediate danger appears to be over”.
Starmer said that additional police were being deployed to synagogues across the country, adding “we will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe”.
Yom Kippur is the most sacred day on the Jewish calendar when even many non-regular synagogue-goers take time to pray and all road traffic stops in Israel.
Britain suffered its second worst year in modern times for antisemitism in 2024 with more than 3,500 incidents being recorded, reflecting sustained levels of hatred towards Jews, the Community Security Trust, a charity that provides security to Jewish organisations and institutions across Britain, said earlier this year.
Reported levels of antisemitism rocketed to record levels in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian enclave.
“This appears to be an appalling attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year,” the CST said on X.
Britain has suffered a number of Islamist militant attacks since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, with the worst being the July 2005 suicide bomb attacks on the London transport network which killed 52 people.
More recently a 2017 suicide bombing at the end of an Ariana Grande pop concert in Manchester killed 22 people and injured hundreds.
The police have in recent years also warned about the threat from organised far-right terrorism.
(Reporting by Catarina Demony, Muvija M, Phil Noble, and Andrew MacAskill; writing by Kate Holton and Michael Holden; editing by Mark Heinrich)
