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The counterterrorism police named the assailant as Jihad al-Shamie, 35, a British citizen of Syrian descent. He was shot dead by the police after killing two people and injuring three others in an attack on Yom Kippur.
A man attacked a synagogue in Manchester, England, on Thursday, killing two people and seriously injuring three others in what the police called an act of terrorism on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
The police said that officers shot and killed the man only minutes after he began his assault, using first a car and then a knife. He was identified hours later by Britain’s counterterrorism police as Jihad al-Shamie, 35, a British citizen of Syrian descent.
The police said investigators were still “working to understand the motivation behind the attack.” Three other people, identified as two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s, had been arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, and remained in custody.
A vest worn by the attacker, which the police earlier said had “the appearance of an explosive device,” was later found to be incapable of causing an explosion, investigators said.
A horrific scene, captured on video and quickly disseminated on social media, began when the attacker rammed a car into people outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in the heart of the large Orthodox Jewish community north of Manchester.
The driver of the car then left the vehicle and began stabbing people with a knife. The attacker was prevented by security guards and others from entering the synagogue, where morning Yom Kippur prayer services had begun about a half-hour earlier.
A large number of people were worshiping at the time, the police said, and were initially told to remain inside. They were later evacuated.
The attack rattled the Jewish community in Manchester, and prompted increased police protection at Jewish cultural and religious sites across Britain.
