Two members of Manchester’s Jewish community were killed and a knifeman shot dead by armed police in a terror attack on a synagogue.
Four people remain in a serious condition after a knifeman ploughed a car into people outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue before launching a stabbing attack.
The attacker was shot dead by officers in Crumpsall, north Manchester.
Police said he appeared to be wearing an explosive device around his waist, but later confirmed that the device the suspect was wearing was not viable.
Four injured people remain in hospital with serious injuries after Thursday morning’s attack on Middleton Road.
Witnesses told The i Paper how heroic worshippers and a security guard barricaded the synagogue to stop the attacker entering.
A large number of worshippers were inside the synagogue during the attack wihch took place on Yom Kippur, the Jewish community’s holiest day.
How did the attack unfold?
Firearm officers were deployed at 9.34am after receiving a call at 9.31am from a witness who saw a car being driven towards members of the public and that one man had been stabbed.
Three minutes later, at 9.37am, a major incident was declared by Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
GMP “declared Plato” – the national codeword used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack”.
Police officers near the body of an attacker who was shot dead after two people were killed in a knife and car attack at a synagogue in Manchester (Hannah McKay/ Reuters)Footage taken at the scene showed several wounded people lying on the ground, including one victim lying next to a car.
Two firearm officers were seen warning people to “get back, he has got a bomb” before shooting the attacker dead as he lay on the ground at 9.38am, seven minutes after the initial 999 call.
A large knife could be seen lying next to the suspect’s body after he was killed.
‘He started stabbing everyone’
The Metropolitan Police’s counter-terror branch later confirmed the attack was being treated as a terror incident.
Local resident Chava Lewin was on her home with her husband when she heard “banging” and then not long after a police helicopter.
A member of the public is helped from the scene after the attack which left two victims dead (Photo Peter Byrne/PA Wire“I thought it would be police looking for someone in the forest but then we went outside and it’s a terrorist attack on the synagogue,” she told The i Paper.
She spoke to a woman who witnessed the attack unfold.
“She said there was a car driving erratically and the car crashed into a gate.
“She got out her car because she thought it was a heart attack or something.
“He (the attacker) got out the car and just started stabbing anyone and everyone. He attacked the security guard.”
Who is the attacker?
Footage from the scene showed a bald suspect with a beard, dark clothes and a device strapped around his waist before he was shot dead.
On Thursday afternoon, police said they believe they knew who the attacker was identity but weren’t able to confirm his identity because of safety concerns over suspicious items on his person at the scene.
Rabbi Daniel Walker (R) stands among armed police officers as they talk with members of the Jewish community outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue (Photo: Paul Currie / AFP)Police carried out a controlled explosion at the scene to gain access to the suspect’s car, with a police bomb disposal team scrambled to the scene.
A ’Blue Thunder’ special forces helicopter used for transporting SAS troops in counter-terror operations was seen hovering over the area.
Two people were arrested at White House Avenue, less than a mile away from the scene, in connection with the attack.
Neighbours said the two men had been renting a property on the street.
Heroes barricaded synagogue
The heroic actions of a security guard and a rabbi prevented more people being killed in a terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester, witnesses said.
Ms Lewin, who lives nearby, told The i Paper: “a security guard stationed outside the synagogue managed to prevent the attacker getting inside.
She also praised the response of Rabbi Daniel Walker.
An armed Police officer stands at a cordon on White House Avenue, near to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation (Photo: Oli Scarff/ AFP)“He was so calm under pressure, he got people inside,” she said.
“Members of the congregation barricaded the door. Then later he was leading his congregation out to safety. I spoke to him and he was still so calm.
“There’s some heroes, this could have been a lot worse.”
Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson of Greater Manchester Police later praised the “immediate bravery” of security staff and the worshippers inside in blocking the attacker from entering.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham told the BBC one of victim appeared to be a security guard who had been stabbed.
Police boost patrols at synagogues
Sir Keir Starmer flew back to the UK from a meeting of European leaders in Copenhagen, promising “additional police assets” will be deployed at synagogues across the country following the attack.
The Prime Minister chaired a Cobra committee emergency meeting at Downing Street on Thursday evening.
He said: “We will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe.”
Leading condemnation of the attack, he said he was appalled, adding: “The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.”
The King and Queen were “deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the horrific attack in Manchester, especially on such a significant day for the Jewish community”.
The incident was branded an “appalling attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year” by the Community Security Trust (CST). which monitors antisemitism in the UK.
Rising antisemitism in the UK
Britain’s Jewish community has been warning about the rising threat of anti-semitism after record numbers of hate incidents since the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas in 2023.
In May, members of Britain’s Jewish community urged“firm action” to crack down on antisemitism in the UK after two Israeli embassy staff members were shot dead in Washington, DC.
The CST recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents in the UK in 2024, the second-highest annual total ever reported to the group.
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It was a decrease of 18 per cent from the 4,296 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded by CST in 2023, the record annual total ever reported, which it said was fuelled by responses to the 7 October terror attack.
In the first half of this year, the CST recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents.
Members of the Jewish community in Manchester and throughout the UK have ramped up security at schools and places of worship in the wake of the threat.
Raphi Bloom, co-chairman of North West Friends of Israel, said he believed Thursday’s attack was the “culmination” of a “tsunami of Jew hatred that the Jewish community have been experiencing” since the 7 October massacre.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme: “We knew this was going to happen. We feared it would happen.
“This hatred has been allowed to go unchecked for far too long and this is the tragic and horrendous culmination of people wishing to target the Jewish community in the UK for a conflict that is happening 2,500 miles away.
“I have nothing against anybody who wants to be pro-Palestinian, but when you import that conflict onto our streets and you attack the Jewish people for that, that is Jew hatred and we have experienced it in waves for two years.”
Footage that provides vital clues
By Sanya Burgess
Investigations Correspondent
Video filmed by a passing man in his van captured the moment the assailant was shot by police. The 1.18 minute long clip, verified by The i Paper, provides vital clues as to what unfolded during this tragic attack.
Two police officers can be seen inside the grounds of the religious site, which is surrounded by high walls with secure gates.
Indications of a chaotic attack that unfolded in the minutes before the camera began to film can be seen with red geraniums that usually line the steps to the synagogue entrance in small pots are now spilled across the floor.
Police can be heard yelling for passers-by to move away, with one shouting: “He has a bomb”.
The suspect was filmed outside the synagogue with what appeared to be an explosive beltThe suspect can be seen lying on the floor in front of the synagogue’s doors. He is wearing dark clothes, dressed in a dark t-shirt and jeans. During the video, he sits up before getting to his knees. At this point, around 30 seconds after the police officer warns the public about the bomb threat, the man is shot.
The man then falls to the floor and a collection of silver rectangular shapes can be seen around his lower stomach and hips. He continues to roll on the floor for a few seconds before seemingly falling still.
Photos from the scene show these silver objects were part of a belt to mimic explosives – police have confirmed the device was not a viable bomb. Other photos from the scene show a bloody smart phone and a sharp knife with a dark handle.
Witnesses reported that the attacker crashed a car into the front of the synagogue, and the footage shows a black KIA Picanto parked haphazardly across the site’s driveway and next to an open side gate. Its front bumper is badly damaged and may have crashed into a brick pillar at the entrance. While online records show the vehicle recently passed its MOT in August, it’s not possible to confirm who the car is owned by using open-source evidence.
The significant damage to the car’s bonnet and that at least one of the airbags has deployed suggests the vehicle was driven at speed when it crashed. The driver’s car door was left hanging open.
At the rear of the car and near the open gate, a man wearing what appears to be a white kippha, traditionally worn by Jewish men, is lying unmoving on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood.
At the time the clip was filmed a pedestrian side gate was open. There is a second gate for vehicles but given the location of the crashed car, it suggests the vehicle gate may have been shut when the assailant arrived.
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