Two arrests, three dead: How a deadly terror attack against Manchester's Jewish community unfolded

A deadly terror attack in Manchester has left a total of three people dead, including a suspect, and others in serious condition after a car ramming and stabbing at a synagogue on Thursday. Two arrests have been made, police said.

The incident occurred outside of the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, which is a suburb of the city, in northwest England. A witness called police at 9:31 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET) after he “witnessed a car being driven towards members of the public” and said one man had been stabbed, police said in a statement .

Officers arrived at the scene three minutes later. Meanwhile, a flood of calls from the public were still being placed to police, saying a security guard had been attacked with a knife.

At 9:37 a.m. authorities declared Operation Plato , a response by authorities to “marauding terrorist attacks” that are “fast-moving and violent.” One minute later, police fatally shot a man believed to be the offender.

At 9:41 a.m., paramedics arrived at the scene. They treated people who had been injured by a vehicle and had stab wounds.

The attack is being treated as a terrorist incident, said assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor from the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism unit, later on Thursday. He said two further arrests were made.

“An attack on our Jewish community today on Yom Kippur is devastating. Communities across the U.K. would normally be marking this holy day are now grieving and worried about their safety,” he said.

“U.K. policing is mobilizing, and it’s mobilizing fast. Police forces are stepping up patrols across the country at synagogues and Jewish sites, and more widely, to provide reassurance to all those communities who have been affected by this incident.”

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year in the Jewish faith. It is a day of atonement, 10 days after the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, that involves fasting for just over a day in order “to rise above the corporeal reality of day-to-day life, focusing solely on the spiritual.”

More to come…

• Synagogue attack on Yom Kippur kills two, prompting U.K. PM Keir Starmer to hold a crisis meeting
• How the antisemitic meltdown at the Glastonbury Festival unfolded

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