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.
Four other people were wounded during the attack outside the synagogue, the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, and remained in serious condition, the police said.
Stephen Watson, the chief constable of the Greater Manchester Police, said that officers had responded within minutes to calls about an assault. 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 police said they believed they knew the identity of the attacker but would not reveal it until they were certain. They also arrested two other people in connection with the attack but did not release their identities or indicate how they might have been connected to the assailant.
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.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain called the attack “absolutely shocking” and described the assailant as “a vile individual who wanted to attack Jews because they are Jews.” He cut short a trip to Copenhagen, where he had been attending a conference of European leaders, to lead a meeting of a government committee that handles national emergencies.
Mr. Starmer said Britain had been hit by a “hatred that is rising once again.”
The attack alarmed the Jewish community in Manchester, a multicultural city with large Jewish and Muslim populations, and prompted a surge in police protection at Jewish cultural and religious sites across the country.
With no access to their phones during the holiday, some members of the Jewish community in the immediate areas of the synagogue did not know what had happened until hours after the attack.
“It’s this new feeling among the community that this place is no longer safe,” said Chen Bass, 27, an Orthodox Jewish mother of two who lives in the area. “We think we will see more and more of this.”
The mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, told the BBC that the Jewish community had “seen rising incidents of antisemitism over recent times” and that it had “been living with a higher state of anxiety because of the times that we’re living in.”
Manchester, one of England’s biggest metropolitan areas, is home to the largest Jewish community in the country outside London, about 30,000 people. The area’s multiculturalism is the result of immigration from around the world.
Since the start of 2017, 19 other violent attacks in Britain were declared terrorism by the police or judges. Of those, 11 were classified as having an Islamist motive, five as right-wing and one as left-wing. In two of the attacks, the motive was unclear.
None of those attacks took place at synagogues, but over the past decade, Jewish people and places of worship in Britain have featured in several terrorist plots thwarted by security services. Some were planned by neo-Nazis, and others by supporters of the Islamic State terrorist group, officials said.
The Community Security Trust, a British charity which tracks antisemitism, said that all categories of attacks had increased since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023. It recorded 1,521 anti-Jewish hate episodes in the first six months of this year, including 73 assaults and 84 cases of “damage and desecration to Jewish property” — several of which took place at synagogues.
In May 2017, Manchester was the site of one of Britain’s deadliest terrorist attacks, when a supporter of the Islamic State detonated a powerful bomb among Ariana Grande fans while they were leaving a concert at Manchester Arena.
Twenty-two people were killed, several of them children, and hundreds of others were injured. The suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, 22, had planned the attack with his younger brother, Hashem Abedi, who is serving a life sentence in prison.
Images of Thursday’s assault quickly spread across social media, including the moment when police officers shot and killed the attacker.
Martin Hamer, a resident of Manchester who was driving through the neighborhood for work, initially thought there had been a traffic accident outside the Heaton Park synagogue. Then, moments before the police arrived, he saw the attacker trying to break into the synagogue through one of its windows.
Officials said the episode could have been far deadlier if not for what Chief Constable Watson described as the “immediate bravery of security staff” who prevented the attacker from getting into the synagogue.
Osher Luftag, 18, who lives in the area, said, “It’s a crazy moment.” The father of a friend had braced the doors of the synagogue from inside to prevent the attacker from entering, he said.
Morning prayers, called Shacharis, had begun at 9, according to the synagogue’s website, and scores of people were inside, the police said. Yom Kippur, a solemn day focused on repentance and becoming closer to God, requires congregants to spend 25 hours fasting and praying.
“As we got nearer,” Mr. Hamer, the resident, said in an interview, “we realized there was a guy dead on the floor and there was another guy fighting for his life in front of the car.” He captured the scene with his phone in a video that his daughter posted on Facebook.
The images showed two armed police officers with their rifles aimed at the attacker prone on the ground outside the synagogue, as a severely injured victim lay nearby. One of the officers yelled to people at the synagogue gates to move back, shouting: “He has a bomb! Go away!” Moments later, the attacker appeared to be trying to get up, and the police fired at least one shot. The man fell back to the ground.
Condemnations of the day’s violence came from across the political spectrum in Britain and around the world.
Kemi Badenoch, leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative Party, wrote on social media that people were “murdered simply for being Jews.” Ms. Badenoch noted that the attack came on a day when Jews “ask themselves — where have we gone wrong in the past, and what do we need to do to be better in the future.”
She wrote, “These are questions we urgently need to ask ourselves as a nation.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called the attack “barbaric” and said that his nation “grieves with the Jewish community in the U.K.”
The U.S. ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens, said that what happened was “sickening” and that it served as a “stark reminder of the rise of antisemitism and religious intolerance in our societies.”
Mr. Starmer, speaking from Downing Street, said, “To every Jewish person in this country, I also want to say this: I know how much fear you will be holding inside of you.”
He added, “Britain will come together to wrap our arms around your community and show you that Britain is a place where you and your family are safe, secure and belong.”
Reporting was contributed by Johnatan Reiss, Nader Ibrahim, Megan Specia, Mark Landler and Ali Watkins.
Michael D. Shear is a senior Times correspondent covering British politics and culture, and diplomacy around the world.
Stephen Castle is a London correspondent of The Times, writing widely about Britain, its politics and the country’s relationship with Europe.
Emma Bubola is a Times reporter based in Rome.
Thomas Fuller, a Page One Correspondent for The Times, writes and rewrites stories for the front page.
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