UPDATED: London police boost patrols near synagogues after deadly Manchester attack

Police said on Thursday it had deployed additional officers around synagogues and Jewish community sites in London on Thursday, following a deadly attack at a synagogue in Manchester earlier in the day.

London’s Metropolitan Police said there was no indication of an increased threat to the capital but had taken precautionary measures.

“While there is nothing to suggest an increased threat to London, we have deployed additional resources to the areas around synagogues, other Jewish community venues and in those boroughs with significant Jewish populations,” it said in a post on X.Police have declared a major incident in Manchester after reports of stabbings and a car being driven towards people at a synagogue on Thursday morning.

Greater Manchester Police said that one man has been shot, believed to be the offender, and four people are being treated with injuries from the vehicle and stab wounds.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, told BBC Radio Manchester that the immediate danger — which took place on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur — is over and asked members of the public to avoid the area.

Responding to the incident on X, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “I’m appalled by the attack at a synagogue in Crumpsall. The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.”