The man who attacked a synagogue in the British city of Manchester that left two Jewish worshippers dead had pledged allegiance to ISIS (ISIL) during the attack, police said.
In a statement on Wednesday, United Kingdom counterterror police revealed that the attacker, Jihad al-Shamie, called emergency services to declare he was acting for ISIS as he carried out the attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on October 2.
“We can confirm that, in the initial stages of the attack outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, a call was made by the attacker to police, claiming to pledge allegiance to the so-called Islamic State,” said a spokesperson for Counter Terrorism Policing North West.
“We are continuing to investigate the full circumstances and motivation behind what happened.”
Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, made the phone call after driving a car into pedestrians and attacking people with a knife at the synagogue in the Manchester suburb of Crumpsall on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Armed officers shot dead Al-Shamie, who had appeared to be wearing an explosive belt, at the scene. Police later said the device was not viable.
Police also said an officer had accidentally shot one of the two victims killed in the attack. Adrian Daulby, 53, was accidentally shot as he and other worshippers barricaded the synagogue to prevent al-Shamie from entering.
Al-Shamie’s rampage also killed Melvin Cravitz, 66, and left three other men hospitalised with serious injuries.
Unknown to counterterror police
Last week, Laurence Taylor, the UK’s head of counterterrorism policing, said authorities believed al-Shamie may have been influenced by extreme ideology.
But he was not on the radar of counterterrorism police, nor had he been referred to the UK’s counter-radicalisation scheme, Prevent.
Police said al-Shamie had a criminal record and was on bail over an alleged rape at the time of the attack, but hadn’t been charged.
As police investigate whether al-Shamie received support in carrying out the attack, they arrested six people in the Greater Manchester area on suspicion of the “commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism”.
On Saturday, a court granted police five further days to hold four of those detained – two men aged 30 and 32, and women aged 46 and 61 – while the two others were released.
Police have not identified those arrested or their connection to al-Shamie.
The latest revelation in the case came as a trial of two men alleged to have plotted a separate ISIS-inspired attack against the Jewish community in Greater Manchester began in a court in Preston.
Greater Manchester Police said in a statement that there was no link between the trial, in which the defendants were arrested in May 2024, and the attack in Crumpsall.
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