Suspect shot dead after killing two in car ramming & stabbing attack at UK synagogue

British police confirmed that three people had died on Thursday following an attack at a synagogue in Manchester, including the suspected perpetrator, who was shot by police.

Police added that there was no ongoing risk to the public following the incident.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has left the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Copenhagen early to return home in the wake of the attack.

Greater Manchester Police said officers had been called to the incident at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the north Manchester district of Crumpsall after a witness said they had seen a car driven at members of the public and that one man had been stabbed.

Armed officers responded and the offender was shot, GMP 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.

"I'm appalled by the attack at a synagogue in Crumpsall," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on X as he left the European political 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.

Police said there were further reports that a security guard had been attacked with a knife.

Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar when even many non-regular synagogue-goers take time to pray and all road traffic stops in Israel.

The Community Security Trust, a charity that provides security to Jewish organisations and institutions across Britain, said it was working with police and the local community. "This appears to be an appalling attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year," the CST said on X.

Britain suffered its second worst year for antisemitism in 2024 with more than 3,500 incidents being recorded, reflecting sustained levels of hatred towards Jews, the CST 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.

Britain has suffered a number of Islamist militant attacks since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, including a deadly 2017 suicide bombing at the end of an Ariana Grande pop concert in Manchester.

The police have in recent years also warned about the threat from organized far-right terrorism.

Earlier this year, British right-wing extremists were convicted of planning to carry out a terrorist attack at mosques or synagogues as part of a "race war".