Terror attack in Manchester as man uses car and knife to kill two and wound three.

 

Armed police at the scene of the attack. BBC/PA Media.

A terror attack in Manchester has left two people dead and three wounded. BBC. The suspect was a 35 year old naturalized citizen of the UK who was originally from Syria named Jihad Al-Shamie. He attacked a Jewish synagogue, first ramming people with a car then stabbing people. The Rabbi at the synagogue is being hailed as a hero for quickly closing the door and locking the killer out before he could stab more people. Police arrived and shot and killed the attacker, who was wearing a fake suicide vest. The suspect was not known to police and was allowed into the UK as a child. The UK government is describing the attack as antisemitic terrorism. Three other people were arrested in connection with the attack. One of the wounded people may have been injured by police during the incident. 

My Comment:

Yet another Islamic attack in the UK, this time targeting Jews. This attack was not particularly sophisticated and it could have been a lot worse if it wasn't for the actions of the Rabbi, who very wisely closed the door to the Synagogue. 

There is video of the aftermath of this attack, which I won't post here, due to the uncensored violence. It was surreal. Some guy was filming the incident as the police were yelling at everyone to get back because they thought there was a bomb. The cops then shoot the attacker dead. The video then pans over to a presumably dead Jewish man that nobody is helping. The whole thing was bizarre. 

There seems to be little doubt of the motivation for this attack. This is Islamic terrorism, through and through. The suspect was a Muslim and even the UK government said he targeted Jews just because they were Jews. He wanted to kill them and in two cases he succeeded. 

Though antisemitism is on the rise, I don't think this attack is really related to that. This wasn't a leftist angry about Gaza, this was a bog standard terror attack. Though the war in Gaza may have angered the attacker, I am guessing most of the motivation was religious in nature. 

It does seem like this was a small terror cell, with the other arrests. Though I kind of think that though this was a cell, it wasn't an organized one that was actively getting support from a larger terror organization like ISIS or al-Qaeda. Instead, I am guessing the other people arrested were friends and/or family that knew what the attacker was going to do and either did nothing to stop him or encouraged and supported it. 

This attack does serve as a major reminder that Islamic terrorism never really went away. Though left wing violence has been fairly common lately, Islamic terrorism is still out there, especially in Europe. Honestly, given the Gaza War I am surprised we aren't seeing more of it. But I think dealing with ISIS and al-Qaeda probably did help things. But I am fully expecting more small scale attacks like this in the future.