Two killed by terrorist in synagogue knife attack

A TERRORIST was shot dead by police after killing two people in a car and knife attack outside a synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

- JOSH PAYNE, PAT HURST, KIM PILLING, ELEANOR BARLOW, AINE FOX and JENNY GARNSWORTHY

Members of the Jewish community comfort each other near the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, where two people died in a terror attack

(Peter Byrne/PA Wire)

Counter-terrorism police said two people were arrested following the attack outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, Greater Manchester, yesterday.

At a press conference, the Metropolitan Police’s head of counter-terrorism policing, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, said the suspect's identity is known to police, but it could not be disclosed because of “safety reasons at the scene”.

Greater Manchester Police said two members of the Jewish community died and four other people remained in hospital in a serious condition following the attack - and confirmed a bomb disposal unit was sent to the synagogue.

The attacker, who was wearing a vest which looked like an explosive device, was shot dead within seven minutes of the initial call to police.