A terror suspect has driven a car at people outside a synagogue in Britain, before getting out of the vehicle and “stabbing anyone” on the holiest day of the Jewish year.

The assailant killed two people and injured four others during Thursday’s horror attack at an Orthodox synagogue in a neighbourhood of Manchester.

It happened as services were about to start on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and the most solemn event in the Jewish calendar.

Officers shot and killed the suspect, who was later identified as 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent.

It took authorities some time to confirm he was dead because of concerns that he was wearing an explosive device.

The Metropolitan Police in London, who lead counter-terrorism policing operations, declared the assault a terrorist attack.

Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said two other suspects were arrested. He provided no further information.

Police said both of those killed were Jewish.

The scene of the stabbing incident at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Crumpsall, Manchester. Photo: AAP

Police were called to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue about 9.30am on Thursday (local time) — shortly after services were set to begin.

A caller said he saw a car being driven toward people, and that one man had been stabbed.

Chava Lewin, who lives next to the synagogue, said she heard a bang and thought it might be a firework. Then her husband ran inside their house and told her there’d been a “terrorist attack”.

A witness told Lewin that she saw a car driving erratically crash into the gates of the house of worship.

“She thought maybe he had a heart attack,” Lewin said.

“The second he got out of the car, he started stabbing anyone near him. He went for the security guard and tried to break into the synagogue.”

Minutes later, police fired shots, saying they believed they had hit the assailant.

A forensic police officer analyses the crime scene. Photo: AAP

Immediately after the attack, police declared Plato, the national code-word used by British police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack”.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the “vile” synagogue assailant who “attacked Jews because they are Jews”.

He flew back to London early from a summit of European leaders in Copenhagen, Denmark, to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee.

Starmer said Britain must defeat rising antisemitism, as he promised to increase security in Jewish communities.

“I promise you that over the coming days, you will see the other Britain, the Britain of compassion, of decency, of love,” he said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sent his condolences over the “heinous attack”.

The King said he and the Queen were “deeply shocked and saddened” to learn of the attack on such a significant day for Jewish people.

Manchester was the site of Britain’s deadliest attack in recent years, the 2017 suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert that killed 22 people.

Antisemitic incidents in Britain have soared following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza, according to Community Security Trust, an advocacy group for British Jews that works to eliminate antisemitism.

More than 1500 incidents were reported in the first half of 2025, the second-highest reported since the record set a year earlier.

“This is every rabbi’s or every Jewish person’s worst nightmare,” said Rabbi Jonathan Romain, of Maidenhead Synagogue and head of the Rabbinic Court of Great Britain.

“Not only is this a sacred day, the most sacred in the Jewish calendar, but it’s also a time of mass gathering.”

-with AAP