LONDON (AP) – Two people have been killed and three others were seriously injured in a synagogue attack in northern England on Thursday, the holiest day of the Jewish year, police said.
The suspect is also believed to be dead after being shot by an officer, but that could not be confirmed immediately due to concerns that he has explosive concerns about him, Greater Manchester police said. The bomb disposal team was on the scene.
This incident occurred when people gathered at the synagogue in Yom Kipur, the day of sin in the Jewish calendar and the most strict day.
In a series of posts about X, Greater Manchester Police said they saw the car being driven towards a member of the masses after 9:30am and said that one man had been stabbed, he was called to the synagogue at the Heaton Park Hebrew Conference in Crumpsole.
Police said they were fired by firearm officers a few minutes later.
“One man was shot and believed to be a criminal,” he added.
Police initially said four other people were being treated for injuries caused by both the vehicle and the stab wound. They later updated the number of victims to five.
The police “declared Plato.” This is a national codeword used by police and emergency services in responding to “looting terrorist attacks.” That doesn’t mean it was declared a terrorist incident.
Prime Minister Kiel said he was appalled in the attack and additional police officers would be deployed at British synagogues.
He returned home early from the summit of European leaders in Copenhagen, Denmark, and chaired the government’s emergency committee meeting.
“The fact that this happened in Yom Kippur, the sacred day in the Jewish calendar, makes it even more frightening,” Starmer said on the X platform.
Debrich, a Community Security Trust, a charity that oversees anti-Semitism in the UK, said Yomkipur was the holiest day of the Jewish year.
“It’s a very strict day and synagogues across the country will be filled up throughout the day,” he said.
He said there was a “constantly important security operations” between the police and the trust of the Jewish community at all major Jewish festivals.
Manchester has been Britain’s most deadly attack site in recent years, and the 2017 suicide bombing was a suicide bombing at the Ariana Grande concert, which killed 22 people.
