Several people stabbed at synagogue in England

News Update

United Kingdom police say they believe they shot a person suspected of stabbing a man at a synagogue and ramming people with a car in the north of Manchester, England, in an incident they are treating as a terrorist attack.

Police said in a series of posts on X that they were called to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall shortly after 9.30am (08:30 GMT) by a member of the public, who said he had witnessed a car being driven towards members of the public and that one man had been stabbed.

Police said that shots were fired by firearms officers at 9.38am. “One man has been shot, believed to be the offender,” said one post. By 9.41am, paramedics had arrived at the scene, tending to four members of the public with injuries caused by both the vehicle and stab wounds, it said.

Police said on X they had “declared Plato” – the national codeword used by emergency services when responding to what they describe as a “marauding terror attack”.

After the incident, a UK official told news agency AFP that Prime Minister Keir Starmer would depart early from a summit of the European Political Community in Copenhagen.

Starmer said in a statement on X: “I’m appalled by the attack at a synagogue in Crumpsall … The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.

“My thoughts are with the loved ones of all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services and all the first responders.”

Andy Burnham, the mayor of the Greater Manchester area, said one victim appeared to be a security guard who had been attacked with a knife.

“It would seem that some of the security used by our colleagues in the Jewish community has really played a role here in preventing it being a worse situation,” he said.

Video shared on social media appeared to show police officers pointing guns at someone lying on the ground outside the front of the synagogue. The armed officers shouted at onlookers to “get back” and “move on”.

The video showed the person on the ground starting to get up before the sound of a gunshot. The person then fell to the ground. Another person was shown lying motionless on the ground outside the synagogue gates with blood near their head, according to UK news agency PA.