3, including offender, are dead, 3 in serious condition

Manchester synagogue incident: Police say 3, including offender, are dead, 3 in serious condition

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the immediate danger is over.

By Mason Boycott-Owen

Police have confirmed that three people, including the offender, have died, and three more are in a serious condition, following a “major incident” at a Manchester synagogue on Thursday morning.

Greater Manchester Police responded to reports of stabbings and a car being driven at members of the public at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.

A statement issued earlier by the police force confirmed that one man, believed to be the offender, was shot before they could enter the synagogue following the “quick response” of a member of the public.

It added that the offender is believed to have died, but cannot be confirmed due to “safety issues [surrounding] suspicious items on his person.” GMP added: “The bomb disposal unit has been called and is now at the scene.”

Police declared operation PLATO — a set of responses used by emergency services in the U.K. to handle a range of incidents, including  “marauding terrorist attacks” — in response to the incident.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, told BBC Radio Manchester that the immediate danger — which took place on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur — is over, and asked members of the public to avoid the area.

Responding to the incident on X, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “I’m appalled by the attack at a synagogue in Crumpsall. The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.”

Starmer will return to London early from a meeting with fellow European leaders in Copenhagen to chair an emergency COBR meeting.  COBR is the cabinet committee convened to handle national emergencies.

Starmer told broadcasters extra police resources would be deployed to synagogues to “keep our Jewish community safe.”

London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement there was nothing to suggest an increased threat in the capital, but additional officers had been sent to synagogues and other Jewish community venues, and to areas with significant Jewish populations.

French President Emannuel Macron post on his X account: “France stands in solidarity with the families affected by an antisemitic terrorist attack on worshippers at a synagogue in Manchester, with the Jewish community, and with the British people. On this day of Yom Kippur, we reaffirm with determination: the fight against antisemitism is ours, and we will pursue it relentlessly.”