A violent attack at a synagogue in Manchester, United Kingdom, left two people dead and at least two others injured this Thursday, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. The assailant, who used both a car and a knife, was killed by armed police on site. 

The North West Ambulance Service confirmed that it assisted with emergency evacuations and medical response.

While the identities of the victims have not yet been released, the Manchester Jewish community expressed deep shock, particularly given the symbolic weight of Yom Kippur, a day of atonement and reflection. 

Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham urged residents to avoid the area but reassured that “the immediate danger seems to have passed.” 

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the act as “horrific” and cut short his attendance at the European summit in Copenhagen to return to the country. “That this happened on Yom Kippur, the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar, makes it even more appalling,” he wrote on social media platform X. 

How events unfolded in Manchester

The incident has reignited debates over religious security in the United Kingdom, with renewed calls to strengthen protection for places of worship, particularly during significant religious observances. 

According to an official statement, police were alerted at 9:31 a.m. local time after reports of a car ramming into pedestrians and multiple stabbings near the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on Middleton Road, Crumpsall. 

At 9:38 a.m., armed officers arrived and fatally shot the attacker. Preliminary investigations indicate that four civilians were struck either by the vehicle or stabbed.