UK leader says additional police to be deployed at synagogues after attack near Manchester

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday that additional police officers will be deployed at synagogues across the U.K. after the attack near Manchester that left four people injured.

Starmer made the announcement as he prepared to fly home early from a summit of European leaders in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Starmer plans to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

LONDON (AP) — Police said Thursday that four people have been injured after a car was driven at members of the public and a man was stabbed outside a synagogue in the north of Manchester.

The incident, which took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, is said to be over after a man, believed to be the offender, was shot by police.

“It is believed that the offender is deceased, although it’s not confirmed," said the mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham.

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, he said that as a result a “degree of reassurance can be given that it’s not a developing, an ongoing, incident.”

In a series of posts on X, Greater Manchester Police said they were called to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall shortly after 9:30 a.m. by a member of the public, who said he had witnessed a car being driven toward members of the public and that one man had been stabbed.

It said that minutes later shots were fired by firearms officers.

“One man has been shot, believed to be the offender,” it added.

It said four people were being treated for injuries caused by both the vehicle and stab wounds.

Police said it had “declared Plato,” the national code-word used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack." That does not mean it has been declared a terrorist incident.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is at a summit of European leaders in Copenhagen, said in a post on X that he was “appalled” by the attack.

“The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific,” he said.

Starmer is flying back from the summit to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee, COBRA.

Dave Rich of the Community Security Trust, a charity that monitors antisemitism in the U.K., said Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year.