Two dead, three hurt after terror attack at Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur

Knifeman named as Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, was fatally shot within seven minutes of rampage starting on Jewish holy day

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN CRIME CORRESPONDENT

It was supposed to be a day of solemn reflection. Members of Manchester’s Jewish community, young and old, had gathered to mark Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement - the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

But a day of fasting and prayer was shattered when a knifeman - identified by police as Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, a British citizen of Syrian descent - ploughed into a worshipper outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall yesterday morning, before getting out and stabbing bystanders.

Within just seven minutes of the first 999 call at 9.31am, Al-Shamie was shot dead by armed police who feared he would detonate a fake suicide belt strapped to his waist.

Three people were later arrested on suspicion of planning a terror attack in connection with the killings carried out by Al-Shamie, Greater Manchester Police added.

The force said two men aged in their 30s and a woman in her 60s have been arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism connected to the incident.

Officers have been praised for their swift response to the deadly attack, which claimed the lives of two members of the Jewish community.

Greater Manchester Police had declared Plato, the national code word used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack”, and a major incident by 9.37am.

Security staff and worshippers have also been singled out for their bravery after their quick thinking stopped Al-Shamie from entering the synagogue, where terrified worshippers barricaded themselves inside as he stabbed at the window.