An “utterly abhorrent” terrorist attack on a Manchester synagogue has left two people dead and three others injured.
Images captured before and after the attack have shocked the world.
After reports came in on Thursday morning of a man ramming a car and stabbing worshippers at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, police arrived to find a man wearing “a thick vest” with items hanging from it.
Army personnel were called in, with a bomb disposal robot.
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Photos and videos showed armed police confronting, then shooting, the suspected attacker.
It was one of many vivid photographs from a day that has rocked the community of Crumpsall.
Explainer: What we know about the attack
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer cut short an overseas trip to return to the UK to chair an emergency COBRA meeting discussing next steps for security.
One of the Special Air Service’s “Blue Thunder” helicopters was deployed. The SAS uses the helicopters in the UK for domestic counter-terrorism duties and military exercises. Clearance to deploy it comes only from top government officials.
The British Muslim Trust has joined with a chorus of voices condemning the attack, and described it as “sickening” and “utterly abhorrent”.
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A regular worshipper at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue told Sky News it was the “culmination of something the Jewish community has been fearing for two years”.
Raphi Bloom, director at a Jewish social care charity in Greater Manchester, said there has been inaction to tackle “the wave of hatred targeting the Jewish community in the UK”, notably since 7 October 2023, when Hamas gunmen launched an attack on Israel, and Israel subsequently launched its military operation in Gaza.
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The 7 October attack in Israel saw 1,200 people killed, most of them civilians, and around 250 people taken hostage.
More than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed since, according to the Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which says more than half of them are women and children. The figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Sir Keir Starmer has said “additional police assets” will be deployed at synagogues across the country following the attack.
