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An attacker ploughed a car into a crowd outside a packed synagogue in Britain on Thursday, a Jewish holiday, before going on a stabbing spree, killing two people and leaving three wounded, police said.

Police said they shot dead the suspect, later identifying him as a UK citizen of Syrian origin, and arrested three other people within hours of the attack in the city of Manchester, which took place as Jewish communities around the world marked Yom Kippur, the holiest holiday in the Jewish calendar.

Police named the suspect as Jihad Al-Shamie, aged 35, and said he wasn’t on the British terrorism watch list.

The two dead victims were Jewish, police in the northwest English city confirmed, as counter-terror police declared it a “terrorist incident”. Three other people were in hospital with serious injuries, police said, after saying four had been wounded.

The three people arrested were “two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s”, who were in custody “on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism”, said Greater Manchester Police (GMP).

The attacker wore a “vest which had the appearance of an explosive device”, but police revealed Thursday evening it was not functional.

As night fell on Thursday, Orthodox Jewish worshippers emerged from packed synagogues in Manchester after a day of prayers and fasting to learn about the attack, having switched off phones and computers for the day.

Aryeh Ehrentreu, 56, who spent the day praying in a synagogue minutes away, said he had heard the ambulances arriving.

“Then the security asked us to close all our doors in the synagogue, so we knew the attack took place,” Ehrentreu told AFP, calling the attack “extremely worrying”.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who left a European summit in Denmark early to chair an emergency response meeting in London, announced security was being boosted at UK synagogues.

The suspect was seen trying to get into the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the Crumpsall suburb of Manchester, England.

Addressing Jewish communities directly in a televised statement shortly after the meeting, he vowed to “do everything in my power to guarantee you the security that you deserve”.

He said while antisemitism was not new, “we must be clear it is a hatred that is rising once again, and Britain must defeat it once again”.

It was one of the worst antisemitic attacks in Europe since the October 7, 2023 assault on Israel led by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which sparked the Gaza war.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the “barbaric attack”.

“Israel grieves with the Jewish community in the UK,” he said.

GMP said it was alerted shortly after 9.30am (local time) that a car had driven into people outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue and a security guard had been attacked with a knife.

Members of the public react as they gather near the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue following a stabbing and car attack on Yom Kippur. Photo / Getty Images 

Chief constable Stephen Watson confirmed later that “two members of our Jewish community have sadly died”, adding officers had shot dead the attacker within seven minutes of the first emergency call.

“The driver of the car was seen then to attack people with a knife” while wearing the fake explosives vest, Watson said.

Armed police and emergency responders gather near the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue after a stabbing and car attack on Yom Kippur. Photo / Getty Images 

Police praised the swift action of people who reported the attack, saying it had stopped the suspect from entering the synagogue.

A witness told BBC Radio he saw police shooting a man after a car crash.

“They give him a couple of warnings, he didn’t listen until they opened fire,” the witness said.

King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla were “deeply shocked and saddened”.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was among the world leaders to condemn the attack.

“Houses of worship are sacred places where people can go to find peace,” Guterres said.

“Targeting a synagogue on Yom Kippur is particularly heinous.”

Members of the public and congregants seen as Police and other emergency responders attend the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. Photo / Getty Images 

‘Rampant’ antisemitism

The attack came days before the second anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel, which inflamed passions in Britain and whose aftermath has caused friction between the British and Israeli governments.

Reacting to the attack, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused UK authorities of failing to curb “rampant antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement”.

Manchester, famous for its two Premier League football clubs and industrial history, is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the UK.

It totalled more than 28,000 in 2021, according to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

The synagogue sits among quiet residential streets, with dozens of visibly distressed locals lining the police cordons Thursday.

The city has witnessed several deadly terror attacks, notably in 2017, when attacker Salman Abedi detonated a homemade suicide bomb outside an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester Arena, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds.

– Akshata Kapoor with Peter Hutchison and Helen Rowe in London, Agence France-Presse