Manchester synagogue attack that killed two was a ‘terrorist incident’, say police – latest updates

October 2, 2025

Manchester synagogue attack that killed two was a ‘terrorist incident’, say police – latest updates

Assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor, national head of counter-terrorism policing, says the attacker has been shot dead by the police and it believed counter-terrorism police know his idenity.

“Based on what we know, counter-terrorism police have declared this a terrorist incident,” he says at a press conference outside Scotland Yard in London.

There have been two additional arrests, he says.

Taylor says an attack on the Jewish community on Yom Kippur is “devastating” and says the police are “mobilising fast” to reassure the Jewish community across the country.

Greater Manchester Police chief constable Stephen Watson is giving a press conference and says he believes the offender’s identity has been established but that it is “premature” to name him publicy.

He confirms two Jewish people have died as a result of the attack.

“Following a rapid response, armed officers intercepted the offender and he was shot within seven minutes of the original call,” he says.

Watson says the police’s enquiries are “moving at pace” and updates will be provided “as soon as is practicable”.

He says a car drove a people outside the synagogue, the driver attacked people with a knife and was wearing items that appeared to be an explosive device.

Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen has briefly commented on the attack in Manchester at a press conference.

She says:

First of all, let me start by expressing my deepest sympathy to the British people and to the Jewish community and to our friend Keir Starmer, who had to leave the summit today.