Two people were killed outside a synagogue in Manchester, in northwestern England, on Thursday morning in a vehicle ramming and stabbing attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, the police said.

Others were injured, including three who were in serious condition on Thursday afternoon, the police said. They said that the suspected attacker had been shot by police and was also believed to be dead, but they were unable to confirm his condition because of what they called ?suspicious items on his person.? A bomb squad was called to the scene.

The attack occurred in an area of Manchester that is home to many orthodox Jews and came 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 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 he was keeping the feelings of the city?s Jewish community in mind as the news of the attack spread.

?I can only imagine how people are feeling when they hear this news ? that the fear that will bring,? he said. He added that the police 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.? (The New York Times)

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