UK Police Say 2 Arrests Made Over ‘Terrorist’ Synagogue Attack

Two people have been arrested over a “terrorist” attack outside a synagogue in the English city of Manchester on Thursday in which police shot dead the suspect, a senior officer said.

The assailant drove a car into people outside the synagogue and then began stabbing them, killing two and seriously wounding four on the holiest day of the Jewish year.

The attack had been declared a “terrorist incident,” added Laurence Taylor, assistant commissioner in counterterrorism policing at London’s Metropolitan Police force.

Greater Manchester Police said the suspect, who was wearing a vest that appeared to be an explosive device, was shot dead after officers rushed to the scene at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the Crumpsall district of Manchester in northern England.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer rushed away early from a European political gathering in Copenhagen to return to Britain to chair an emergency meeting.

He said additional police were being deployed to synagogues across the country, adding: “We will 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.”