At least two people were killed on Thursday and three badly wounded outside a packed synagogue in Manchester in a car and stabbing attack, with the suspect believed to have been shot dead by UK police.

As the Jewish community marked the holiday of Yom Kippur in the northwestern city, police were called to the incident, activating a national terrorism-response protocol.

The attack struck days ahead of the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked a fierce offensive in Gaza, inflaming passions in Britain.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer swiftly condemned the attack as “horrific”, and announced security was being boosted at UK synagogues. He left a European political summit in Denmark early to chair an emergency security meeting in London.

King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla were “deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the horrific attack in Manchester, especially on such a significant day for the Jewish community”.

Greater Manchester Police declared a “major incident” shortly after 9:30 am (1:30pm PKT) after officers were called to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the Crumpsall neighbourhood.

The force initially said paramedics were treating four people for “injuries caused by both the vehicle and stab wounds” while confirming firearms officers had shot one man “believed to be the offender”.

Within hours, it announced two people had died and the suspected offender shot by officers was “also believed to be deceased”.

Police said the death could not be confirmed due to “suspicious items on his person”, noting a bomb disposal unit was at the scene. Three people were also in a “serious condition”, police added.

‘Appalled’

Starmer said he was appalled and pledged to “do everything to keep our Jewish community safe”.

“The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific,” he added.

Israel’s embassy in the UK said it was “abhorrent and deeply distressing” that “such an act of violence should be perpetrated on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar”.

“The safety and security of Jewish communities in the United Kingdom must be guaranteed,” it added on X.

Police said officers first responded to calls from the public about a car driving into people outside the synagogue, as well as reports that a security guard had been attacked with a knife.

A witness told BBC Radio he saw police shooting a man after a car crash. “They gave him a couple of warnings, he didn’t listen until they opened fire,” he said. “He went down on the floor, and then he started getting back up, and then they shot him again.”

Police said “a large number of people worshipping at the synagogue … were held inside while the immediate area was made safe” but then evacuated.

‘Holiest Jewish day’

Manchester mayor Andy Burnham told the BBC police had “dealt with it very quickly with some amazing support from members of the public”.

He urged people “not to speculate on social media”, while noting the Jewish community “will be very worried by the news”.

The city, famous around the world 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.

MP Graham Stringer said the area was home to both large Jewish and Muslim communities.

“By and large community relations are excellent between all the different ethnic groups and religious groups,” he told BBC Radio Manchester.

The Community Security Trust (CST), a Jewish charity that records antisemitic incidents, said it was “working with police and the local Jewish community”. “This appears to be an appalling attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year,” CST added.

The city has witnessed several deadly terror attacks, notably in 2017 when Salman Abedi detonated a homemade suicide bomb outside an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester Arena. It killed 22 people, some of them children, and injured hundreds more.