An attacker rammed a car into people outside a synagogue in Manchester, England, then went on a stabbing spree on Thursday, killing two people in what the police called an act of terrorism on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
The police later identified the suspect as Jihad al-Shamie, 35, a British citizen of Syrian descent. No other information on him was immediately available. The police said that counterterrorism investigators were still “working to understand the motivation behind the attack.”
The police said they had arrested two other people in connection with the assault outside the synagogue, the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, which seriously wounded four other people. But they did not release their identities or indicate how they might be connected to the assailant.
Stephen Watson, the chief constable of the Greater Manchester Police, said officers had responded within minutes to calls about an attack. The police said officers shot and killed the perpetrator, who was wearing a vest described by Chief Constable Watson as having the “appearance of an explosive device.” Investigators later determined it was not capable of causing an explosion.
The violence in Manchester comes amid heightened fears across Europe and the United States for the safety of Jews amid a rise in antisemitism related to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
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