British police on Thursday arrested a man on suspicion of involvement in a terror attack that killed two worshipers and wounded three others in a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.
Greater Manchester Police said the 31-year-old was detained at Manchester Airport on suspicion of “commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism” after arriving on an inbound flight.
A Syria-born British man, Jihad Al-Shamie, was shot dead by police on October 2 outside the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Manchester after he rammed a car into pedestrians, attacked them with a knife and tried to force his way into the building. Police say the 35-year-old had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Congregation members Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, died in the attack, and three other men were seriously wounded.
Cravitz was stabbed by the attacker, and Daulby was accidentally shot by a police officer as he and other congregants barricaded the synagogue to block Al-Shamie from entering.
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Six people were arrested in the Greater Manchester area of northwest England in connection with the attack. Five were later released without charge, and a 30-year-old man suspected of failing to disclose information about a crime was released on bail while investigations continue.
The terror attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue was one of the worst antisemitic incidents in Europe since Hamas invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the war in Gaza and triggering record levels of antisemitic attacks globally.
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