A man rammed his car into a crowd gathered at a synagogue at Manchester, England, on the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, in a stabbing rampage that has left at least two people dead and three more seriously injured.

The incident occurred outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue at a northern suburb of the city on Thursday morning as people were gathering for Yom Kippur services, according to law enforcement.

The attack was quickly declared a “terrorist incident” by the head of counter terrorism policing, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor.

A third person, identified as the suspected attacker, died in the incident. Responding officers shot the suspect within 10 minutes of police responding to an emergency call.

Greater Manchester Police’s chief constable, Sir Stephen Watson, said that the attacker was wearing a vest that “had the appearance of an explosive device.”

Footage from the scene shows local police officers attempting to move the public back to safety during the showdown with the suspect. “Everybody else, get back. If you’re not involved, move back, get away … he has a bomb, go away,” an officer can be heard shouting in the video.

An additional two people were arrested in relation to the incident, but it was not immediately clear what roles they may have played.

Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, who was at Copenhagen for a summit of European leaders, told reporters that he would be returning to the United Kingdom early to chair an emergency meeting with senior officials and that additional police would be deployed to synagogues across the country.

“I’m appalled by the attack,” Mr. Starmer said in a post on X. “The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.”