UK Synagogue Attacker Claimed Allegiance to ISIS in Call to Police

A forensic technician works at the scene after a man drove a car into pedestrians and stabbed a security guard in an attack at a synagogue where worshippers were marking Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, in north Manchester, UK, on Oct. 2, 2025. Phil Noble/Reuters

LONDON--The man whose attack on a synagogue in northern England last week resulted in the deaths of two Jewish worshippers phoned police minutes afterward to say he was acting for the ISIS terrorist group, investigators said on Wednesday.

Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, made the call after driving a car into pedestrians and attacking people with a knife at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the Crumpsall district, police said.