Manchester police said that two people were killed and three were injured in a car and knife attack outside a synagogue
News Desk, Daily Dawn, Dawn TV Report
Manchester: Two people were killed and three injured in a car and knife attack outside a synagogue in Manchester, Britain, on Thursday, police said.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said on social media platform X that “a man, believed to be the attacker, was shot by armed GMP officers and is believed to have been killed.”
Police added that his death could not yet be confirmed as “he had suspicious items.”
According to police, the bomb disposal unit has been called to the scene, while the condition of the three injured is “critical.”
The attack took place on the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar, when people were gathering at the Hatton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall.
Police were called to the incident at 9:30 am local time after a witness said a car had driven into people and one person had been stabbed.
Armed police officers were deployed at 9:34 am after police received further reports that a security guard had been stabbed.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham described it as a “serious incident” and urged people to stay away from the area.
“I can assure you that the immediate threat appears to have passed,” he told the BBC.
He said the incident was dealt with “effectively” by those at the scene and by Greater Manchester Police.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that “extra police are being deployed at Jewish places of worship.”
Before boarding a plane to return from Copenhagen to chair an emergency “Cobra” meeting on the incident, Starmer said: “The attack in Manchester this morning is shocking and our thoughts are with the victims.
“I am returning to London. I will chair an emergency Cobra meeting as soon as I arrive.
I can say now that extra police are being deployed at synagogues across the country and we will do everything possible to ensure the safety of our Jewish community.
“I have spoken to Mark Gardner of the CST (Community Security Trust) and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.
Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar, on which large numbers of people come to worship in synagogues and fast.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he deeply regretted the attack.
He said in a statement that the fact that the incident occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, made it all the more horrific. My thoughts are with the victims and their families, and I thank the emergency services and first responders.
He added that he would return home before the European summit in Denmark and chair the government’s emergency Cobra committee in London.
Conservative leader Kim Bidnocht told the BBC that it was a “shameful and abhorrent” attack on Jews on their holiest day.
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