Manchester synagogue attacker ‘pledged allegiance to Islamic State,’ police say

The suspect behind last week’s deadly car and knife terror attack outside a synagogue in Manchester allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, authorities said.

Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, a British citizen of Syrian descent, allegedly called emergency dispatchers to claim responsibility for the attack before pledging allegiance to the Islamic State.

“We have conducted assessments across our systems, and I can reiterate that Al-Shamie had never been referred to the Prevent program, nor was otherwise known to Counter Terrorism Policing,” Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts said Wednesday. 

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The Prevent program is a U.K. government initiative aimed at offering individuals who are susceptible to radicalization proper interventions to stop them from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Laurence Taylor said on Oct. 3 that while Al-Shamie was not known to the counterterrorism team, he was on bail at the time of the attack after being arrested on suspicion of rape.

Potts said that police are now “more confident that he was influenced by extreme Islamist ideology, the 999 call forms part of this assessment.”

While Potts pointed to the call as evidence of Al-Shamie’s motivation, he stressed that authorities needed to look across all evidence gathered to determine the motive behind the attack.

“This assessment continues, and there may be further drivers and motivations identified,” Potts added.

Al-Shamie was shot by police outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue after the attack in which he rammed a car into pedestrians before attacking them with a knife. The attacker was wearing what appeared to be an explosive device, but Potts called it a “hoax device” and said it was later assessed and confirmed to be “non-viable.”

Two congregants, identified as Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, died in the attack, which took place on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day. 

Police later said that it was likely one of the two victims was accidentally shot by officers who were rushing to stop the attack, as Al-Shamie did not have a gun on him. Reports indicate Daulby was the one shot.

Potts informed reporters on Wednesday that three people injured during the attack are still hospitalized.

While investigating whether Al-Shamie acted alone, police arrested three men and three women on suspicion of the “commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism,” The Associated Press reported. 

The people arrested have not been identified and police have not revealed their ties, if any, to Al-Shamie. The AP reported that on Saturday a court gave police five more days to hold four of the suspects, while two, a man and a woman, were released without further action.