The man accused of killing two people outside a U.K. synagogue on Yom Kippur has been identified as a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, according to police.
“We are now able to confirm that, although formal identification is yet to take place, we believe the person responsible for today’s attacks is 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie,” police said in a statement obtained by The Sun.
The suspect rammed his car into pedestrians outside the Manchester synagogue and then stabbed a nearby security guard, police said. Three of the victims were hospitalized with critical injuries. The attack occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish days, while a large group of worshippers were gathered inside the synagogue.
Police arrived at the scene and fatally shot the suspect. A bomb squad was called to the crime scene due to “suspicious items” found on the attacker’s body.
British police said earlier on Thursday that the deadly assault was a terrorist attack, and the two people who were killed were members of the Jewish community.
The attack, carried out in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Manchester, comes in a climate of heightened antisemitism across the U.S. and Europe, driven by the backlash to the war in Gaza.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is “appalled by the attack” and is returning early from a European security meeting in Denmark to meet with the U.K. government’s COBRA committee — shorthand for the country’s crisis response meeting.
Israel’s Embassy in the United Kingdom condemned the attack.
“That such an act of violence should be perpetrated on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, in a place of prayer and community, is abhorrent and deeply distressing,” the embassy said in a post on X. “The thoughts and prayers of the people of Israel are with the victims, their families, and the entire Jewish community at this difficult time.”
Britain’s King Charles also said he was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the attack.
Starmer has said that additional police and reinforcements will be deployed to synagogues across the U.K. because of the attack.
“The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific,” Starmer said.