Greater Police (GMP) said that two victims have died of their injuries following a car and knife attack outside a synagogue in the north of the city on Thursday.
The attacker was shot by armed police and is also believed to be deceased but bomb disposal experts were still checking suspicious items on his person.
“Greater Manchester Police can confirm two people have died following the major incident outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, Middleton Road, Crumpsall,” GMP said in a statement online.
“A third person, a man believed to be the offender, was shot by GMP Firearms Officers and is also believed to be deceased. It cannot currently be confirmed due to safety issues [that] surround suspicious items on his person. The bomb disposal unit has been called and is now at the scene,” GMP said.
What happened during the Manchester synagogue attack?
Police said on Thursday that they were responding to an incident outside a synagogue on Middleton Road in Manchester, after a member of the public reported a car being driven toward civilians and a stabbing.
Police declared a major incident at 9:37 a.m. local time (0837 GMT/UTC) outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall in the north of the city, and said that officers fired shots one minute later.
GMP said that paramedics were at the scene and that four members of the public had been injured, with both injuries caused “by the vehicle and stab wounds.”
“Our crews treated patients at the scene and transported four patients with serious injuries to hospital. Our resources remain on scene to support the ongoing response to the incident,” North West Ambulance Services said in a statement.
PM Starmer ‘appalled,’ mayor urges people to avoid area
Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham told local BBC radio that it appeared to be a major event but also that “the immediate danger appears to be over.”
Like police, Burnham advised people to avoid the area as the emergency services respond.
The apparent attack coincides with the Yom Kippur religious festival.
“I’m appalled by the attack at a synagogue in Crumpsall,” Prime Minister wrote online. “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 he was leaving a early to fly back to the UK to chair a so-called “COBRA” (Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms) meeting of committees coordinating the government response to national crises.
“I’m already able to say that additional police assets are being deployed to synagogues across the country and we will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe,” Starmer said in Copenhagen before boarding his plane.
Manchester is home to roughly 30,000 Jewish people, making it the UK’s second-largest Jewish community after the capital London.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery
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