PinnedUpdated Oct. 2, 2025, 11:28 a.m. ETAn attack that killed two people outside a synagogue in Manchester, in northwestern England, has been declared an act of terrorism, Britain’s counterterrorism police said Thursday.The vehicle ramming and stabbing attack, which took place on the morning of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, injured three others, who were in serious condition on Thursday afternoon, the police said.Laurence Taylor, the head of counterterrorism policing in the U.K., said that the police believe they know the identity of the assailant but had not been able to formally confirm it.“U.K. policing is mobilizing, and it’s mobilizing fast,” Mr. Taylor said at a news conference. “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.”Mr. Taylor said that the attacker had been shot and killed by the police and that because of “suspicious items on his person,” a bomb squad had been called to the scene. He also said that they had arrested two people in connection with the assault.The attack occurred in an area of Manchester that is home to many Orthodox Jews and at a time of heightened fears in the Jewish community as tensions persist over the two-year-old war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.The Manchester police said in a statement that a large number of people were worshiping at the synagogue, Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, at the time of the attack. They were held inside while the immediate area was made safe but have since been evacuated, it said. According to the synagogue’s website, morning prayers had begun at 9 a.m., just over a half-hour before the police received the first report of the attack.Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement that he was “appalled” by the attack and that “the fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.”The police said the suspect did not gain access to the synagogue, and they have not confirmed whether he was carrying a bomb.Andy Burnham, the mayor of Manchester, told the BBC that the police had responded swiftly and apparently shot the suspect within seven minutes of the first reports.The Jewish community has “seen rising incidents of antisemitism over recent times,” Mr. Burnham said, “and have been living with a higher state of anxiety because of the times that we’re living in.”Here’s what else to know:Video footage: Footage taken by a witness and posted on Facebook showed two armed police officers with their rifles aimed at the suspected attacker on the ground outside the synagogue. In the video, which was verified by The New York Times, one of the officers is seen telling people at the synagogue gates to move back, shouting: “He has a bomb, go away.” Moments later, the suspected attacker appeared to be trying to get up and the police fired at least one shot. The man fell back to the ground.Security: Security was rapidly increased at other hubs of Jewish life in Britain, including outside one of London’s largest Jewish community centers, JW3, where a large police presence stood at its gates on Thursday afternoon. Mayor Sadiq Khan of London said the city’s Metropolitan Police service will be “stepping up high visibility policing in and around synagogues in London.”Reactions: Reaction to the attack came from across the political spectrum in Britain. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, said she was “horrified by the news.” Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, the main opposition in Parliament, called it a “vile and disgusting attack.”Starmer: Mr. Starmer flew home early from a conference of European leaders in Copenhagen to chair a government committee that handles matters of national emergency. The group known as COBRA, for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, will convene Thursday afternoon.Jewish community: According to census figures, about 30,000 Jewish people live in Manchester, the largest number in the United Kingdom outside of London. The Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation is in Crumpsall, north of the center of Manchester, one of the largest cities in Britain.Nader Ibrahim contributed reporting.Oct. 2, 2025, 11:29 a.m. ETLaw enforcement officers speaking with a local resident near the scene of the attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester, England on Thursday. The police said that the attacker rammed his vehicle into people outside the synagogue before exiting the vehicle and stabbing victims.Credit...Ian Hodgson/Associated PressThe deadly vehicle and knife attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England, was declared an act of a terrorism on Thursday by the British police.Laurence Taylor, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing in the United Kingdom, said that officers believed they knew the perpetrator’s identity but could not yet confirm it.Speaking outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters in London on Thursday afternoon, Mr. Taylor said, “Based on what we know, Counter Terrorism Policing has declared this as a terrorist incident.”Two victims were killed and three others wounded during the attack. The injured remained hospitalized in serious condition, Mr. Taylor said.The attacker was shot dead by police officers at the scene, officials said. Two arrests have been made in connection with the investigation, which was being led by specialized counterterrorism teams, according to Mr. Taylor.Mr. Taylor did not detail the reasons for the terrorism declaration, which requires a senior officer to decide whether the available evidence meets Britain’s legal definition of terrorism. That definition covers violence “for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.”Mr. Taylor said: “We’re deploying all of our capabilities in response to what has happened. We will ensure every piece of intelligence and line of inquiry is interrogated.”Laurence Taylor, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing in the United Kingdom, in London on Thursday. Mr. Taylor said that officers believed they knew the perpetrator’s identity but had not yet confirmed it.Credit...Jack Taylor/ReutersThe police said that the attacker rammed his vehicle into people outside the synagogue before exiting the vehicle and stabbing victims.The Greater Manchester Police said in a statement that its armed officers arrived at the site within minutes of a call to 999 and shot the attacker, who was “prevented from entering the synagogue.”The perpetrator was wearing “suspicious items,” which were examined by a bomb disposal unit, the police said.Video footage taken by a witness and verified by The New York Times showed the attacker wearing an object around his waist. Chief Constable Stephen Watson of the Greater Manchester Police later described it as “a vest which had the appearance of an explosive device.”The suspect’s tactics appeared to mirror several Islamist terrorist attacks in Britain in which perpetrators used vehicles and knives, and wore items created to look like explosive belts or vests.Since the start of 2017, 19 other violent attacks in Britain were declared terrorism by the police or judges. Of those, 11 were classified as having an Islamist motive, five as right wing and one as left wing. In two of the attacks, the motive was unclear.None of those attacks took place at synagogues in Britain, but over the past decade, Jewish people and places of worship have featured in several terrorist plots thwarted by security services. Some of those attacks were planned by neo-Nazis, and others by supporters of the Islamic State terrorist group, officials said.Oct. 2, 2025, 11:28 a.m. ETA police officer guarding a roadblock the site of an attack on a synagogue in Manchester.Credit...Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe British government increased security at hubs of Jewish life nationwide on Thursday, after an attacker killed two people outside a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said the Metropolitan Police would be “stepping up high visibility policing in and around synagogues.” Prime Minister Keir Starmer added that “additional police assets” were being sent to synagogues across the country.In London, where the busy Euston train station was briefly evacuated after a security alert, the Metropolitan Police issued a statement acknowledging “significantly increased fear and concern in Jewish communities across the U.K.”“While there is nothing to suggest an increased threat to London, we have deployed additional resources to the areas around synagogues, other Jewish community venues and in those boroughs with significant Jewish populations,” the statement said.Speaking as he prepared to leave Copenhagen, where he met other European leaders, Mr. Starmer confirmed that he planned to oversee a meeting later on Thursday of a government committee that handles national emergencies. “We will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe,” he added.Emily Spurrell, the chair of Britain’s Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said the increased policing was an effort to “reassure Jewish communities.”The Community Security Trust, a British charity that tracks antisemitism and coordinates security measures at Jewish institutions with the government and police, urged people not to gather outside synagogues or other communal sites and to keep their doors “closed at all times.”Oct. 2, 2025, 11:09 a.m. ETSomeone drove a car directly at people outside the synagogue, said Stephen Watson, the chief constable of the Manchester police, and the driver was then seen attacking people with a knife. Watson said the attacker was wearing a vest that appeared to contain an explosive device.Oct. 2, 2025, 11:03 a.m. ETA group of people near the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester, England, on Thursday.Credit...Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesThe deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday comes at a time of rising antisemitism around the world and in Britain.The Community Security Trust, a charity that tracks antisemitic acts in Britain, reported 1,521 such cases between January and June of this year. Those included physical assaults, property damage, graffiti, online abuse and social media posts, and three cases identified as “extreme violence.” The trust said that was the second-highest rate of anti-Jewish incidents it had ever recorded in the country.The highest ever number — 2,019 cases — was recorded in the first six months of 2024. Those followed the October 2023 attack on Israeli civilians by Hamas militants, in which about 1,200 people were killed, and Israeli’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands.The humanitarian crisis in the enclave and the number of people killed in Israel’s bombardment and ground operations against Hamas have drawn regular protests across Europe.The Runnymede Trust, a British think tank that focuses on social justice issues, said in a recent report that the current approach to protecting Jews from hate crimes in Britain was not working, and might even have worsened the problem by creating a perception among other groups that they were not as zealously protected.“The significant funding given by governments to protect Jewish people specifically makes Jewish communities feel safer in the short term but has given rise to perceptions that there is a hierarchy of racisms in the U.K.,” wrote David Feldman, director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, which produced the report with the Runnymede Trust.“These divisions have been made worse by the conflation of anti-Zionism and criticism of Israel with antisemitism when this is not justified,” Mr. Feldman wrote in an introduction to the report. “At the same time, the left has too often failed to recognize antisemitism, let alone address it.”Oct. 2, 2025, 11:02 a.m. ETOfficers with the Greater Manchester Police fatally shot the attacker within seven minutes of the initial call to the police, Chief Constable Watson said.Oct. 2, 2025, 11:00 a.m. ETStephen Watson, the chief constable of the Greater Manchester Police, said the police believed they know the identity of the attacker but were waiting to share that information until they were certain about it.Credit...Paul Currie/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesOct. 2, 2025, 10:23 a.m. ETThe attack has been formally declared to be an act of terrorism, said Laurence Taylor, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing in the United Kingdom.Delivering a statement outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters in London, Taylor said the police believe they know the attacker’s identity but had not been able to confirm it. Two arrests have been made.Oct. 2, 2025, 10:13 a.m. ETPrime Minister Keir Starmer has arrived back in Downing Street after flying back from Copenhagen, where he was attending a conference of European leaders. He will lead a meeting this afternoon of a government committee that handles national emergencies.Oct. 2, 2025, 9:59 a.m. ETPolice and emergency services in Manchester, England, on Thursday activated a set of protocols referring to “marauding terrorist attacks.”Credit...Peter Byrne/Press Association, via Associated PressThe authorities in Britain have not yet confirmed whether a vehicle ramming and stabbing at a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday is being treated as a potential act of terrorism.In its first statement on the assault, which occurred around 9:30 a.m. local time, Greater Manchester Police said it had “declared Plato” shortly after being called to the scene. That was a reference to Operation Plato, a set of protocols for armed police officers and emergency services when responding to major episodes, including terrorist attacks.At least two people were killed in the attack, and at least three others were injured, the police said. The assailant died after being shot by armed officers, the police said.It is common for the counterterrorism police to be involved in the initial response to mass violence in Britain, even when the target of an attack or motive is unclear.But the decision to formally declare whether a terrorist attack has taken place lies with a high-ranking police officer: Britain’s senior national coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing.That person looks at the information immediately available after an attack to decide whether it meets Britain’s legal definition of terrorism, which refers to violence “for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.”Such decisions can be highly sensitive and can require the analysis of evidence including witness accounts, material on a suspect’s devices and details of the suspect’s personal history. Investigators examine any available clues to try to establish if an attacker had an ideological motive, or whether the attack was driven by other factors.Oct. 2, 2025, 9:38 a.m. ETA multi-faith vigil to commemorate the victims of the suicide bombing attack at Manchester Arena, where the singer Ariana Grande was performing, in Manchester in 2017. A total of 19 violent attacks in Britain have been declared terrorism by the police or judges since the start of 2017.Credit...Andrew Testa for The New York TimesManchester, where an assailant attacked a synagogue on Thursday morning, was the location of one of Britain’s deadliest terror attacks. In May 2017, a supporter of Islamic State detonated a powerful suicide bomb among Ariana Grande fans leaving a concert at Manchester Arena, one of the country’s largest indoor venues.Twenty-two people were killed, several of them children, and hundreds were injured. The bomber, Salman Abedi, 22, had planned the attack with his younger brother, Hashem Abedi, who is serving a life sentence in prison.The authorities have not yet announced whether the synagogue attack on Thursday, which left at least two victims dead and others injured, was being treated as a potential act of terrorism.Another high-profile attack in Manchester was on Dec. 31, 2018, when a stabbing took place near the entrance to Manchester Arena, inside Manchester Victoria railway station. The police later declared that a terror attack.In that attack, Mahdi Mohamud, a Dutch citizen, injured a man and woman who were on their way home from New Year’s Eve celebration, then turned the knife on a police officer who tried to subdue him.He was arrested at the scene and none of the injuries he caused were fatal. He shouted, “This is for Allah” and, “Long live the caliphate” during the attack. He was later detained in a high-security psychiatric hospital.A total of 19 violent attacks in Britain have been declared terrorism by the police or judges since the start of 2017. Of those, 11 have been classed as having a jihadist motive, five from the right wing, and one from the left wing. In two of the attacks, the motive was unclear.Oct. 2, 2025, 9:15 a.m. ETThe police confirmed that the attacker had died after being shot by armed officers. They added in a statement that a “loud noise” heard at the scene of the attack this afternoon was a result of officers “gaining entry to the suspect’s vehicle as a precaution.”Oct. 2, 2025, 9:05 a.m. ETThe Community Security Trust, a British charity that tracks antisemitism and coordinates security measures at Jewish institutions with the government and police, issued advice following the attack. “We urge people not to congregate outside communal premises and synagogues to keep their doors closed at all times,” it said in a statement.Oct. 2, 2025, 8:48 a.m. ETMartin Hamer, a resident of Manchester, said in a phone interview that he saw the suspected attacker attempting to get into the synagogue through a window moments before the police arrived.Hamer had approached the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, curious after he saw what he initially thought was a traffic accident outside the building.“As we got nearer,” he said, “we realized there was a guy dead on the floor, and there was another guy fighting for his life in front of the car.” Mr. Hamer, who recorded video of the scene that his daughter posted on Facebook, said that the police arrived minutes after and opened fire.Oct. 2, 2025, 8:11 a.m. ETEmily Spurrell, the chair of Britain’s Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said police forces across the country were deploying additional resources to synagogues in an effort to “reassure Jewish communities.”Credit...Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated PressOct. 2, 2025, 7:59 a.m. ETSecurity has rapidly increased at other hubs of Jewish life. Just after noon, outside one of London’s largest Jewish community centers, JW3, in north London, a large police presence was visible at its gates, where officers were seen speaking with a rabbi.The city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said the Metropolitan Police would be “stepping up high visibility policing in and around synagogues.”Oct. 2, 2025, 7:39 a.m. ETIsrael’s Embassy in the U.K. has condemned the attack and thanked the Greater Manchester Police for its swift response. “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,” it said in a statement.Oct. 2, 2025, 7:29 a.m. ETThe police said that the attacker had been prevented from entering the synagogue thanks to the quick response by a witness who called the police.Oct. 2, 2025, 7:21 a.m. ETKing Charles III said in a statement, “My wife and I have been deeply saddened and shocked to learn of the horrific attack in Manchester, especially on such a significant day for the Jewish community.”Oct. 2, 2025, 7:20 a.m. ETThe police said a large number of people were worshipping at the synagogue at the time of the incident and were kept inside while the immediate area was made safe but have since been evacuated. A bomb disposal unit is at the scene.Credit...Paul Currie/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesOct. 2, 2025, 7:19 a.m. ETThe police said that three injured people are in a serious condition.Oct. 2, 2025, 7:18 a.m. ETThe police in Manchester said a third person, a man believed to be the offender, was shot and is also believed to be dead. That has not been confirmed because of suspicious items around the person.Oct. 2, 2025, 7:14 a.m. ETThe Greater Manchester Police said two people died in the attack outside the synogogue.Credit...Paul Currie/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesOct. 2, 2025, 7:10 a.m. ETPrime Minister Keir Starmer has said that “additional police assets” were being sent to synagogues across the country, adding, “We will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe.” Speaking as he prepared to leave Copenhagen, where he met other European leaders, Starmer confirmed that he will chair a meeting this afternoon of a government committee that handles national emergencies.Oct. 2, 2025, 7:01 a.m. ETMorning prayers began at 9 a.m., according to the synagogue’s website, just over a half-hour before the attack was reported to police at 9:31 a.m. The prayers, called Shacharis, are typically recited before noon.Oct. 2, 2025, 6:44 a.m. ETFootage taken by a witness and verified by The New York Times showed two armed police officers with their rifles aimed at the suspected attacker, who was on the ground outside the synagogue, as an injured person lay nearby. In the video, which was posted to Facebook, one of the officers told people at the synagogue gates to move back, shouting: “He has a bomb, go away.”Police have not confirmed whether the man was carrying an explosive device.Moments later, the suspected attacker appeared to be trying to get up, and the police fired at least one shot. The man fell back to the ground.Oct. 2, 2025, 6:43 a.m. ETPrime Minister Keir Starmer will fly home early from a conference of European leaders in Copenhagen to chair a government committee that handles matters of national emergency, according to a British official not authorized to confirm the meeting publicly. The group known as COBRA, for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, will convene this afternoon.Credit...Suzanne Plunkett/ReutersOct. 2, 2025, 6:36 a.m. ETBritain’s home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, who is responsible for security, said she was being updated on the situation by the police. “I am horrified by the news of an attack at a synagogue in Manchester today, on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar,” she said in a statement. “My first thoughts are with the victims, our brave police and emergency services.”Credit...Phil Noble/Reuters